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Crown-of-thorns Starfish 'Cockroach of the Ocean' and Much More Resilient Than Previously Thought -

Accepted submission by upstart at 2020-07-21 11:22:42
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Crown-of-thorns starfish 'cockroach of the ocean' and much more resilient than previously thought - ABC News [abc.net.au]:

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It's hard to comprehend the destruction this ethereal creature could do in its lifetime — a juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, raised in a lab where researchers have discovered worrying new findings about its progression into adulthood.

Key points:

  • Juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish will eat a range of foods to survive
  • The trait makes them much more resilient than researchers first thought
  • Researchers hope to find the trigger for juveniles to move from algae to coral

Research published today from the University of Sydney and Southern Cross University's National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour has found the crown-of-thorns starfish will eat a much more varied diet as juveniles than previously thought, [plos.org] making them worryingly resilient.

As juveniles the crown-of-thorns starfish are vegetarian, favouring a particular type of algae.

But the study found they they would eat much more in order to survive.

"We initially thought that they only ate crustose coralline algae but we found that they can also eat biofilm, which is a mixture of diatoms, bacteria, and other microorganisms that grow pretty much everywhere in the ocean," Dr Mos said.

The findings offer a significant change in thought on the life cycle of the crown-of-thorns starfish, and raises the spectre of it being a much more dangerous predator.

The surprising findings followed research earlier this year that showed baby starfish can survive on algae for up to six and a half years instead of switching to a coral diet at four months of age — the point at which they can cause devastation to coral reefs [abc.net.au].

"This could be a problem in that it might allow numbers of these juveniles to build up over a number of years and then move out in one mass onto the reef and cause an outbreak [abc.net.au]," Dr Mos said.

He said future research will now look at what triggers the change from the juvenile, herbivorous stage to when the starfish begin feeding on coral.

"If we can figure out what causes these juveniles to switch from feeding on algae to feeding on coral we may be able to come up with something that will prevent that trigger from happening," he said.

"If we can figure out what causes these juveniles to switch from feeding on algae to feeding on coral we may be able to come up with something that will prevent that trigger from happening," he said.

"If we can figure out what causes these juveniles to switch from feeding on algae to feeding on coral we may be able to come up with something that will prevent that trigger from happening," he said.

"If we can figure out what causes these juveniles to switch from feeding on algae to feeding on coral we may be able to come up with something that will prevent that trigger from happening," he said.

"If we can figure out what causes these juveniles to switch from feeding on algae to feeding on coral we may be able to come up with something that will prevent that trigger from happening," he said.

, updated YesterdayMonMonday 20 JulJuly 2020 at 10:04pmupdated YesterdayMonMonday 20 JulJuly 2020 at 10:04pmShare

'Sobering findings': Great Barrier Reef future's downgraded to 'very poor' [abc.net.au]Public funds to kill crown-of-thorns funnelled through companies linked to tourism operators [abc.net.au]Crown-of-thorns starfish eating their way through Barrier Reef in major outbreak [abc.net.au] Crown-of-thorns starfish DNA reveals coral killer's weakness [abc.net.au]'Sobering findings': Great Barrier Reef future's downgraded to 'very poor' [abc.net.au]Public funds to kill crown-of-thorns funnelled through companies linked to tourism operators [abc.net.au]Crown-of-thorns starfish eating their way through Barrier Reef in major outbreak [abc.net.au] Crown-of-thorns starfish DNA reveals coral killer's weakness [abc.net.au]More on:

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