An invasive species of brittle star has the ability to reproduce asexually by self-division.

Brittle Stars (Ophiothela mirabilis) are the fastest moving echinoderms, closely related to Sea Stars, and are usually found in the Pacific Ocean.
They were first spotted in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil in 2000. And since then, they’ve been seen crawling up and down the eastern coast of South America, all the way north to the Caribbean. The species has been observed in ports up and down the coast, suggesting that it was brought to the Atlantic from the Pacific by ships.
Only little is known about the future impact of this species on the Atlantics’ fragile eco system.

As the name suggests, the arms of the brittle stars are rather liable to break. This is actually an escape mechanism. Those arms regenerate quickly and an entire new organism can regenerate, if the broken arm is attached to a sizable portion of the disk.
These brittle stars are able to reproduce asexually by splitting their bodies down the middle and regenerating the missing halves, allowing them to spread along the coastline very quickly.

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