Orange Linkia Sea Star - Linkia sp.
Picture taken April 2002, Nikon Coolpix 950 digital camera

Purchased: April 14th, 2002

Sea stars in the genus Linkia are amoung the few stars acceptable for reef aquariums. They are non-selective surface grazer from the Indo-Pacific and can survive on a diet of aquarium detritus and debris.

Linkia sea stars are known to ship very poorly. They often have very high mortality rates. You need to acclimate all marine critters very slow, but take extra time with this one.

It is possible that this orange morph is not a linkia at all and it is possible it is not from the Indo-Pacific but from the Mexican shore near where Mexican Turbo Grazers are collected.

Update:This seastar had several encounters with my Corkscrew Long Tentacle Anemone. Sadly, it was unable to survive. Died in November 2002.

Orange Linkia Sea Star - Linkia sp.
Picture taken April 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Nikkor 18-70mm DX lens

This is a second attempt at keeping the Orange Linkia.

These tend to be delicate shippers and many people have them perish shortly after introduction do to poor acclimation techniques. This needs to be drip acclimated over a long period of time (many hours).

Generally, you do not want to touch them and should not expose them to air.

These do not accept supplemental feedings, the scavenge the rocks looking for stuff to eat. It might be a sponge, or a biofilm or something. Nothing obvious.