Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown)

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reeflover
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Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 2:53 AM
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I have some"larger" mini brittle stars of the genus Ophiolepis that spawned last night 1/25/13 in a perc clown hatching/rearing tank.  I am hoping that since there were no filters in this tank, that maybe I will get some brittle stars that develop and settle with time.  Only prolem is I can't find this genus listed for reporting spawning.  Below are some pictures of these stars.  Can anyone help to identify the species?  And can anyone tell me how I can report the spawning?  Thanks.
 

 
You can see the gametes being released around the body at first, then drifting with the current to the left and looking like smoke.  Just prior to spawning all of these brittle stars climbed high in the water column as close to the surface as they could reach, shortly after dark (lights were turned back on again), and they tried to hang from something with their arms, allowing their central disc to suspend in the current.
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JimWelsh
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 2:58 AM
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I can't help you with the species identification, but once the species is IDed, then you can submit a Classification Request using the form that you can find here:  http://www.mbisite.org/ClassReq.aspx 

reeflover
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 3:49 PM
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Thanks Jim!  I spent until 3:30 AM last night trying to ID this species and no luck so far.  There are so many close-looking varieties, and I fear identification without an expert may be difficult.

Peerless
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 4:34 PM
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Hi Reeflover I have these spawn in one of my tanks regularly, Usually following large water changes. I never could pin the species down either.
 
 
 


Peerless
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 4:49 PM
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reeflover
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 6:57 PM
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Could this may be Ophiactis savignyi or perhaps Ophiactis rubropoda?

reeflover
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Re:Need help with reporting a spawning of brittle star Genus Ophiolepis (species unknown) - Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:11 PM
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After many hours of reading today, I am leaning toward O. savignyi, mainly based on its distaribution and being fairly common.  Evidently there are not many 6 arm brittle stars, so this narrows it down somewhat.
 
http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/most-common-brittle-star-in-world.html