Linckia multifora Breeding Guide: Comet Regeneration
Linckia multifora reproduces asexually by autotomy, shedding arms that grow into 'comets'. Its sexual broadcast spawning is not completed in home aquaria.
Overview
Linckia multifora, described by Lamarck in 1816, is a circumtropical sea star of the family Ophidiasteridae. It ranges across the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and western Pacific to Japan, Lord Howe Island, the Pitcairn Islands and Hawaii, on coral reefs. It has a small disc and five long, slim, slightly tapering arms in brown, pink, red or grey with small red spots.
Reproductive Mode
Linckia multifora reproduces both sexually and asexually. Like other starfish it broadcast-spawns gametes that develop into planktonic larvae, but the species is best known for asexual fragmentation by autotomy, which is its defining reproductive trait.
Asexual Propagation
In autotomy the arms detach at various positions and each can grow into a new individual. The process is gradual: a small crack appears on the lower surface and spreads, then the tube feet of the arm and body pull the two parts in opposite directions until they separate. Healing takes about 10 days and full arm regeneration several months. Detached arms, called comets, move independently and take roughly 10 months to develop a new disc with small arms.
Sexual Reproduction
The sexual pathway follows the general asteroid pattern: free-spawned eggs and sperm yield bilaterally symmetrical bipinnaria and then brachiolaria larvae that drift as plankton before settling. This planktonic cycle is not completed in home aquaria, so any natural increase in captivity comes from comet formation rather than spawning.