The coral-eating crown of thorns starfish that devastate tropical reefs can lie in wait as harmless young herbivores for more than six years while coral populations recover from previous attacks or coral bleaching, new research has shown.
The coral-eating crown of thorns starfish that devastate tropical reefs can lie in wait as harmless young herbivores for more than six years while coral populations recover from previous attacks or coral bleaching, new research has shown.
The diet of the juvenile starfish is algae. Juveniles remain on this vegetarian diet for at least four months and then, if there is an abundance of coral, the starfish typically switch to a coral diet.
Research published today in Biology Letters led by Dione Deaker, a PhD student at the University of Sydney, and her adviser Professor Maria Byrne, has shown that juvenile starfish can delay their diet shift to coral for at least 6.5 years.
“This Peter Pan effect means that populations of juvenile crown of thorns starfish can build up on reefs in the absence of coral,” Ms Deaker said. “They could become a hidden army waiting to consume reefs as the reefs recover.”
As adults they grow to nearly a full metre in diameter and have a voracious appetite for coral, devastating critical reef habitats on the Great Barrier Reef and across the Indo-Pacific.
Read more at University Of Sydney
Image Credit: University of Sydney
