| 
        
          
            | Tiny 
            colourful brittle stars Ophiothela danae*
 Family Ophiotrichidae
 updated 
            Apr 2020
 Where 
            seen? These 
            tiny brittle stars are sometimes seen on sea 
            fans, flowery 
            soft corals and other cnidarians and even on Thorny sea urchins. A single host 
            can be home to many of these tiny brittle stars. But it requires a 
            keen eye to spot them.
 
 Features: Whole 
            animal about 1cm wide. 5-6 arms with very small spines, held flat, along the sides of the arm. Arms with colourful bands usually to match 
            the host animal. Central disk also with colourful markings. Sometimes confused with the Tiny orange brittle star which are found on Asparagus 
            soft corals.
 |  
         
          |  |  Changi, Jul 12
 |  |  
 
        
          
            | Sometimes confused with the Tiny orange brittle star which 
              are uniformly orange. The two kinds of tiny brittle stars are sometimes seen together. |  
        
          |  |  Chek Jawa, Oct 16
 In Spiky flowery soft coral
 |  Cyrene Reef, Aug 20
 In Leathery sea fan
 |  *Species are 
      difficult to positively identify without close examination.
 On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of 
      display
 
 
        
          
            | Tiny 
      colourful brittle stars on Singapore shores |  
 
        
          
            | Other sightings on Singapore shores |  
 
        
          |  On Knobbly sea star
 Changi Carpark 7, May 21
            Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.
 |  |  |  
 
        
          |  Pulau Ubin, Jul 17
          Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.
 |  Pulau Ubin, Dec 12
                Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.
 |  On flowery soft coral.
Chek Jawa, Jul  16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
 |  
 
 
         
          | Links References 
             
              Lane, David 
                J.W. and Didier Vandenspiegel. 2003. A 
                Guide to Sea Stars and Other Echinoderms of Singapore. 
                Singapore Science Centre. 187pp. |  |  |