---
title: Magpie Brittle Star (Breviturma pica)
scientific_name: Breviturma pica
common_name: Magpie Brittle Star
taxon: Brittle star
published: 2026-08-04T21:32:44.566Z
updated: 2026-08-20T17:09:45.871Z
tags: Magpie Brittle Star, Breviturma pica, Brittle star, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/brittle-star/magpie-brittle-star
---

# Magpie Brittle Star (*Breviturma pica*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Brittle star (*Ophiuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 10 cm
- **Depth:** 1-20 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Under rocks and coral rubble on shallow reef

## How to recognise it

- arms banded black and white along their length
- small central disc, five long unbranched arms
- hides under rubble by day, arms out at night

A brittle star with five slender, unbranched arms banded in black and white along their length - the pattern behind the name pica, Latin for magpie. The central disc is small and granular, rarely more than 2 cm across, while the arms reach about 10 cm (4 in), so almost the whole animal is limb. Arms move in fast serpentine sweeps, nothing like the slow tube-foot creep of a sea star.

By day it stays hidden under coral rubble, slabs and rocks on shallow reef, down to about 20 m (65 ft), often with just one or two arm tips protruding to sample the water. At night the animal emerges to feed, sweeping detritus, organic particles and small prey towards the mouth on the underside of the disc. Arms break off readily when seized - the defense the whole group is named for - and regrow from the stump over following weeks, so animals with arms of visibly different lengths are common. The species was long lumped into Ophiocoma and only recently moved to Breviturma, so Red Sea guides printed before the change list it under the older genus.

## Also known as

- **English:** Pied Brittle Star
- **Spanish:** Ofiura tigre
- **Japanese:** ホウシャクモヒトデ
- **Chinese:** 畫櫛蛇尾
- **Russian:** Офиура-сорока

## Scientific synonyms

- *Ophiocoma lineolata* Müller & Troschel, 1842
- *Ophiocoma pica* Müller & Troschel, 1842
- *Ophiocoma sannio* Lyman, 1861

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/brittle-star/magpie-brittle-star)*
*Updated: August 20, 2026*