Blue or Indigo "Crown-of-Thorns?"

[drbill]

Several years ago I was diving in SE Asia and Australia. Twice I saw a blue or indigo (I'm partially color blind and artistically challenged) sea star that looked very much like the crown-of-thorns (COT) I saw frequently.

I asked a few regional "experts" about these sightings and they were unaware of any sea stars that looked just like a COT but had that coloration. I was wondering if anyone in the Asian ScubaBoard community has seen such things?

 

[Zippsy]

Sorry, never.

 

[caribbeansoul]

You mean like this?...

Saw about 10 of these on a reef in the Similans last November.

 

[Allison Finch]

Nice picture!

 

[Quero]

Yeah. You see them all over. In fact, most of the COTs here are blue.

 

[drbill]

Whew... I thought my memory was playing tricks with me. I'll have to look through my trip log for that 3-month trip to see if I can find the actual dive sites I saw them at. Thanks.

 

[Zippsy]

I must be colorblind.

 

[jonix]

haven't seen blue/indigo ones here in batangas, Philippines.

 

[smokey braden]

drbill,
in '03 i had the opportunity to dive the maldives.
this was my first trip to asian waters.
the first cot i saw really excited me.
back on the boat i asked my buddy from holland what that was.
he told me that in the red sea they see lots of them.
he said because they eat the coral that he'd seen people chop them up in little pieces.
because they are in the star fish family a whole animal will form from a single piece.
they are such a different colour blue.
maybe a board member has some more pictures.
regards,

 

[drbill]

Interesting, Smokey Braden. I'm considering trips to the Red Sea and the Maldives next year. Hopefully I'll get video.