Atlantic Star Snail (Astraea phoebia): Breeding Notes

Astraea phoebia (Lithopoma phoebium) is a long-spined Western Atlantic star snail and algae grazer. As a turbinid broadcast spawner with non-feeding planktonic veligers, it is not bred in home reef tanks.

Overview

Astraea phoebia (now Lithopoma phoebium), the longspine star shell, is a Tropical Western Atlantic turban snail of the family Turbinidae, ranging through the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Lesser Antilles. Its shell, bearing star-shaped spines, reaches up to 76 mm, and it occurs from 0 to about 91 m depth. It is kept in reef tanks as an algae grazer.

Sexing

Star snails have separate sexes with no reliable external differences; sex is apparent only when gametes are released during spawning.

Spawning & Eggs/Larvae

Fertilization is external. Eggs develop through a trochophore into a non-feeding (lecithotrophic) veliger that drifts in the plankton for only about three to five days before settling; no trochoidean veligers are known to feed. This short pelagic phase is characteristic of tropical turbinids.

Common Challenges

The brief planktonic veliger stage is still removed by filtration, flow and predators in a typical reef tank, so self-sustaining populations are not realistic for hobbyists.