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Brittle stars are a moderately popular invertebrate in fishkeeping. They can easily thrive in marine tanks; in fact, the micro brittle star is a common "hitchhiker" that will propagate and become common in almost any saltwater tank, if one happens to come along on some live rock.
This brittle star has a circum-boreal distribution. In the northern Atlantic Ocean it is common around Iceland, Spitzbergen and Norway southwards to the North Sea.On the eastern coast of North America its range extends from Greenland southwards to Long Island, and in the Pacific Ocean, its range stretches from Japan and the Bering Sea southwards to California. [3]
The banded brittle star utilizes different methods of feeding depending on the size of a given food particle; if the particle is relatively large, the brittle star grasps it with the tip of its arm and coils its arm to bring it to the mouth, whereas if the particle is relatively small it uses its elongate tube feet to transport food to its mouth.
The common brittle star, Ophiothrix fragilis, Strangford Lough, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, -22 m, 5 September 2007. The common brittle star is extremely variable in colouration, ranging from violet, purple or red to yellowish or pale grey, often spotted with red. The arms are usually white or grey with pink bands.
Breviturma pica, the yellow-spotted brittle star, is a species of brittle star in the family Ophiocomidae. [2] The species epithet, pica , translates to " magpie " for its resemblance to the bird with black and white feathers.
The arms are simple and unbranched, projecting from and well-fused to the edge of the disc. These arms move horizontally. The arm spines short and movable. They lie flat against the arms when stimulated, but held erect when the brittle star is at rest. Disc and arms are covered in naked, distinct scales.
Amphiuridae (commonly called long-armed burrowing brittle stars [2] or burrowing brittle stars) are a large family of brittle stars of the suborder Gnathophiurina.Some species are used to study echinoderm development (e.g. Amphipholis kochii [3] and Amphioplus abditus [4]) and bioluminescence (the dwarf brittle star, Amphipholis squamata [5] [6]).
Schayer's Brittle Star is found off the coast of Australia. Areas include New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. It is the largest and most common brittle star found near Sydney. [citation needed] The species occurs from the inter-tidal zone to 180 metres below sea level.