Crown of Thorns Starfish

A crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) on a reef in the Marianas Islands. An “outbreak” of these coral-eating starfish can decimate a reef.

Crown of Thorns Starfish in the Marianas Islands
David Burdick/NOAA Photo Library

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Comments

this is realy cool can you

this is realy cool can you tell me were i can get or see one of theese star fish

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 10/06/2010 - 7:20pm.

The first time I saw one of

The first time I saw one of these I was scuba diving in Palau in Jan 2006. Our dive guide told us about the crown-of-thorns, on our dive briefing, and how they could destroy a reef system and to be on the lookout. The first one I saw I alerted him and he turned it over, put a rock on top of it, and we swam on. He was so excited we found it; I thought he was tagging it to show the others. We saw about three more, and he very carefully did the same things. I started to think there was more than tagging the animal at work here. When our dive was over, he shared with us more of the destructive cycle of this animal, and how they were trying to preserve their reefs as they could. By turning the star upside down, other predators could feast on it, and they could attempt to control the populations of the destructors and continue the have healthy beautiful reef systems for years to come. He also shared that what he was doing was very dangerous because the thorns are highly poisonous, so we should never try to help by doing what he was doing.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 1:42pm.

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