New Office Mate

I haven't had a lot of luck adding invertebrates to my reef tank (well, that's not true: the crabs and snails are flourishing) but the slugs are, well, sluggish and the sea star I bought some weeks ago (no longer star fish--look it up) played dead until it wasn't playing anymore. So, rather than be shystered by another fancy pants aquatica boutique, I went to the nearest PetSmart and talked to my Local Reef Enthusist, who convinced me that this sea star had spunk and, if given proper loving care, would make the transition very well. How big will he get, assuming he doesn't dissolve as the last one did? No way of knowing as the inner life of red sea stars--these are the only "reef friendly" (read: won't eat all your corals when your back is turned)--is a secret that they aren't sharing. So far, so good: he survived the trip to the office and into his holding cell, which means he's outlasted his predecessor. Here's Hank, as he is called (named after the grumpy criminally minded Red East Pacific Octopus in the movie Finding Dory): I put him in this little tupperware container as I have to introduce water from my tank to his slowly and steadily (that is the "loving care" I mentioned earlier). I've been at work long enough to listen to two Pink Floyd albums and so far he's taken the water additions like a trooper. But, being the Outlaw Intertebrate he is, he has dedicated his efforts to looking for an escape--but, of course, only when I am not looking. When I watch him, he lets his arms dangle idly, and I can almost hear soft snoring. But after looking away to get a book off my shelf, I turn back to him and he is in a completely different place and different position in his little tub, again, listlessly drifting in the gentle motions of the water. How does he know? He doesn't even have eyes! He only has pinpoint sized light sensor disks, one on the end of each of his arms, and, more amazingly, he has no brain to process any of this visual input! Sea stars are largely stomachs--that's their largest organ, and it is at the center of their limbs, in their 'hub'; each arm is filled with all other organs in miniature, duplicated in each arm--yes, so they have 5 sets of sex organs, 5 sets of blood filtration systems--which is why they can not only lose all but one limb, but (if cut down the middle neatly) can split into two completely healthy new organisms--like humans 'twinning' in utero. They really are amazing.