<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Another consideration is that these stars are particularly prone to parasitic infections of the small snails (Thyca crystallina</em>), and in some regions as many as 1/4 of the Linckia </em>are infected with these pests . You should check for these snails clinging to or boring into the underside of the arms before you pay for the star. Females of these parasitic snails have a proboscis (elongated mouth) that penetrates the skin of the sea star and sucks the hemolymph (the echinoderm equivalent of blood) almost like a small, shelled mosquito. Unlike a mosquito, however, the adult snail actually burrows into and becomes permanently fused to the sea star, and should never be picked off! Because it is physically attached to the sea star, removing the snail will almost certainly result in more damage than leaving the snail attached. Besides, these parasitic snails turn out to be a relatively minor problem. Other than a slight alteration in some of the skeletal elements around the proboscis, the main effect of these snails on the star appears to be the loss of tube feet under the snail’s shell (which probably has no effect on the health of a star in the aquarium over the long-term). </span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Although research suggests that these parasitic snails cause little ultimate harm to their hosts , their presence is an additional stress that the stars can do without when being moved to an aquarium, and their presence provides a potential vector for infection. So, if you have your choice of several healthy stars, take one without any parasitic snails first; if you don’t have a choice, it probably won’t matter to the star in the long-run.</span>
