(photo by David Witherall)
Happy 4th of July! Some neat video for you guys this week!So remember from a few years ago I wrote this post about the giant, green predatory ophiuroid Ophiarachna incrassata. Here's the post from 2008 where I outline O. incrassata's remarkable predatory behavior when feeding on fish!
Now in 2011 we have some video that shows some similar feeding in what looks to be a different species of Ophiarachna!
Caveat! These are aquarium observations. Animals in captivity don't necessarily eat what they would eat in the wild. But there remains some insight into watching them feed...
Here we see a light colored Ophiarachna (does not look like the green O. incrassata) apparently attacking a tiny porcellain crab identifed by the videographer as Actaeodes tomentosus
Here's a couple of nice ones showing Ophiarachna feeding on some fish and showing some rather dramatic disk deformation!
Here's Ophiarachna feeding on what looks like broken basket star arm bits
Here's a nice one of O. incrassata. Note at 0:58-59 after feeding- the disk shows the food deforming the top surface of the disk creating that weird "tent" sticking out of it..
Feeding a Green Brittle Star from Carlito on Vimeo.
Here's a nice view of the oral surface of what the videographer calls "Ophiarachna megacantha"
