Green starfish?

What is the real name and are they dangerous?

You're probably thinking of the Crown of Thorns starfish Acanthaster planci, and yes, they are dangerous.

See:
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/reef/reef0238.htm

If not, please describe better than "green"...

Thats what it was being called but I looked it up and was shown a red one with two inch long "thorns".
How about a "Guide to the dangerous stuff in Hawaii"? Anything like that out there?

Can't get the link to work but my puter is acting up tonight.

I think there are a couple of starfish referred to as "crown of thorns" -- the one I've seen is green, and has a central area with several tentacles coming off. The central area also has thorny things sticking up, each ~1" long.

General rule: if it looks sharp and/or pointy, it probably hurts!

Looks like the one. Need to find more info though. Thanks.

Puter is back up and running...This is the one I was finding. http://www.divegallery.com/crownofthorns.htm

Get enough light on the star and it'll be red oftentimes, red can appear green at depth... just cut yourself so you get a little blood action and go to depth... green, cool.

Those rubbery looking thorns will go right through gloves. The people I've met that have touched them were in quite a bit of finger pain for a few weeks, loss of feeling for a while and were still picking at the wound site a year or two later. I had a couple of divers who said the ones in Thailand are blue and that they'd been told they are lethal - not sure if that is true or an exaggeration to keep divers from touching them.

The other green star we have is the green linkia star. It's your basic 5 fingered star with arms maybe up to 9 inches in length about as thick as a finger. It's harmless.

Next time you are at Borders, look into "All Stings Considered". You can also pick it online I suspect. It's got all sorts of absoultely ugly pictures, including a male body part which was hit by stinging algae (yuck). It's pretty much the definitive dangerous Hawaiian marine stuff you never thought could hurt you book.

later

Steve

Wildcard:

Thats what it was being called but I looked it up and was shown a red one with two inch long "thorns".
How about a "Guide to the dangerous stuff in Hawaii"? Anything like that out there?

Can't get the link to work but my puter is acting up tonight.

Click to expand...

Cool, thanks! I still can't find anything more than "reportedly" is dangerous...I hate when blowhards try to show off and scare kids with there BS. Looking for solid anti BS proof these things don't "shoot barbes into your bones"....

Is someone wanting to go harvesting? You could always pick up some gear that would allow you to handle them... maybe kevlar gloves? Would those work?

Harvest for what? A market would be a great thing for the reefs but Im just looking to dispell the BS. I have handled them without a problem but it seems to be a "bad" thing. Just looking for real info.