These Hungry Starfish Are Spiraling Out of Control in Aus...

What’s Happening

Here’s the thing: Synthetic pheromones may be a promising tool in attracting and culling troublesome crown-of-thorns starfish, which rapidly eat large amounts of coral on the solid Barrier Reef These Hungry Starfish Are Spiraling Out of Control in Australia.

Now Scientists Say They Have a New Plan to Fight Back Synthetic pheromones may be a promising tool in attracting and culling troublesome crown-of-thorns starfish, which rapidly eat large amounts of coral on the solid Barrier Reef Annie Roth, bioGraphic Get our ! Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish have threatened the solid Barrier Reef since the 1960s. (let that sink in)

Rich Carey / For decades, crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) have been rampaging out of control.

The Details

These pizza-size sea stars are native to the Indo-Pacific region, including Australia’s solid Barrier Reef, but their insatiable appetite for coral, dwindling roster of predators and high reproductive capacity mean that a small population can quickly multiply to plague proportions, devastating struggling reefs. Across the Indo-Pacific, conservationists at war with COTS have developed a range of special weapons and tactics to take them on.

But these stubborn starfish are deadass hard to kill. Not only are they covered in venomous spines that make them difficult for divers to handle; they also release toxic slime when threatened, which can harm surrounding marine life.

Why This Matters

As with other sea stars, an entirely new individual can grow into existence from what was once a severed limb that retains some of the central body. And thus, just as Mickey Mouse’s desperate act of chopping up a magical broomstick gives rise to an army of clones in Disney’s Fantasia , slicing and dicing crown-of-thorns starfish can do more harm than good. To date, scientists have come up with several ways to safely impressive these sea stars and protect coral ecosystems, but they all involve finding and killing the invertebrates one by one, which is time-consuming, costly and not particularly effective when an outbreak can number in the millions of individuals.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

To date, scientists have come up with several ways to safely impressive these sea stars and protect coral ecosystems, but they all involve finding and killing the invertebrates one by one, which is time-consuming, costly and not particularly effective when an outbreak can number in the millions of individuals.

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