Micro brittle star fish question. Can they see or sense light?

[BigTimeIssues]

Wednesday night I saw something in my tank after lights out. I had a dim flash light and saw what looked like a spider in my tank. He was gone in a few seconds.

Spent all day Thursday freaking out wondering if it was eating my coral. Or if I have a pest early on.

I'm not losing coral, nor seeing issues with their health. So pests seem unlikely.

After further inspection tonight(Thursday) I only found the tiny brittle stars. And some spaghetti worms.. The "spider" I saw seemed to be almost the size of a dime. Same size as these brittle starfish..

Also what I saw was running from my light.. so can micro brittle stars sense or see light?

 

[FreshSaltH2o]

My brittles run from light

 

[exnisstech]

In my DT I only see them at night. The chaeto in my sump is full of them and if I shine a flashlight on them they start to go away from the light.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Most brittle starfish are photosensitive but don't have eyes, so they can typically sense it light without technically typically seeing it.