Skip to main content

Crown-of-Thorns Starfish

Acanthaster planci
The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish is a very large sea star, sporting diameters of up to 20 inches across. They are actually the second largest of all the Sea Stars, beaten only by the massive, nearly meter wide Sunflower Starfish. Crown-of-Thorns Starfish can be found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as in the Red Sea. They are solitary creatures, and live on Coral Reefs.

 Crown-of-Thorns Starfish get their name from the massive spines that grow out of their body. These spines are capable of piercing diving suits, and are full of a neurotoxin that can cause severe pain and swelling in humans. Coral plays a huge part in this Starfish’s life. They are predators that feed off of the Coral Polyps, and their choice of meal can cause huge amounts of damage to the reefs. They pose one of the greatest natural threats to the Great Barrier Reef, for example, because they can feed on Coral faster than the Coral can grow back.

Outbreaks of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish happen in part because they don’t have too many natural predators, and many of those creatures that do feed on them are overfished. Another reason for the infestations deals with the health of the reefs themselves. Erosion and agricultural runoff has caused reefs to decline in health, which means they aren’t able to consume the Starfish are quickly when they are in their larval phase.

 Efforts have been made to remove and kill Crown-of-Thorns Starfish, but they are tricky to get rid of, since they can regenerate from severed limbs! One method that has had some effectiveness is injecting the Starfish with sodium bisulfate, which is lethal to them but causes no damage to the surrounding reef. Physical removal is also sometimes carried out, but it is more difficult to manage as the Starfish are able to poke through the divers’ wetsuits.
IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Indian and Pacific Oceans
Size : Diameter up to 20in (50cm)
Classification : Phylum : Echinodermata -- Class : Asteroidea -- Order : Valvatida
Family : Acanthasteridae -- Genus : Acanthaster -- Species : A. planci
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more

Banggai Cardinalfish

Pterapogon kauderni The Banggai Cardinalfish is a small tropical fish that is becoming very rare in the wild, even though it has been successfully bred in captivity. You will only find these small, 3in long fish around the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. They are the only members of their genus, and you can tell them apart from other Cardinalfish by their three-striped bodies, tasseled first dorsal fin, long second dorsal, and their deep-forked tail fins. Banggai Cardinalfish are diurnal and live in small groups of about a dozen members. They are opportunistic feeders who dine on whatever smaller plants and animals they can find. Courtship and mating is pretty interesting for these guys-- females are the ones who initiate. They isolate a male and the pair will perform various courtship rituals before spawning. The Cardinalfish are mouthbrooders, which means that the males take the fertilized eggs (up to 90 of them) into their mouths and incubate them for up to 30 days. During t...
37 comments
Read more