Crown of Thorns Starfish

The Great Barrier hit down (GBR) is the largest collection of precious coral reefs in the world. It extends over 2000km off the northeastern coast of Australia and is home to a very diverse range of accompaniment creatures. Coral Reefs create in areas where temperatures dont fall below 18 degrees Celsius for long periods at a time, so are usually found 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Most require very salty water system. Reefs are very sh stick out with clear water to allow light to penetrate.

Due to the GBR?s symbiotic nature it is state by many to be a large maintenance organism. Experts suggest that almost parts of the reef could be up to 20 unmatchable million million years old, with most of the visible coral only developing over the past 2 million years. Generating over 1 billion dollars every year for the touristry industry the GBR is a major contri notwithstandingor to the Australian economy. however there is a creature that scourgeens this natural resource.

The crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) is one of the only animals that feeds on living coral tissue, it is named for the dense covering of long, extremely sharp spines on its surface that are cognize to claim a toxic reaction in humans. other(a) characteristics include, a mouth surrounded by short numb spines, a stomach and hundreds of tiny feet that can be seen from downstairs each arm. The COT diet consists of soft corals and gorgonians (sea whips) to echinoids (sea urchins), clams and algae. They have alike been observed to eat each other. A private COTS can consume up to 6 square meters of living reef per year.

During normal conditions, these starfish pose little threat to the reef on a large scale, but when an clap occurs the result is catastrophic. If it is not re-infested, a reef may discover a COT outbreak in 10 to 20 years but many reefs become re-infested before it has recovered. This has caused some scientists to speculate that continued re-infestation might result in reefs bonny devastated for long period of time.

The COTS has very high reproductive readiness with each female being able to lay millions of bollock in one breeding season. One of the main hypotheses as to the survival of larvae is the runoff of nutrients from fertilizers near costal areas, causing the water to become rich with nutrients. This results in a phytoplankton bloom that provides more(prenominal) food for crown-of-thorns larvae.

There are very few animals that are willing to attack the toxin-ridden starfish, but surprisingly, some creatures prey on them. Predators include the Giant Triton, a species of shrimp, a species of worm and mixed fish. The decline of these predators, due to over harvesting and pollution is also a major factor to the increase the population of the starfish, fashioning outbreaks more likely to occur.

There are many slipway to prevent COT from plaguing our reefs such as the breeding of such creatures as the Giant Triton.



Divers also kill them by injecting the starfishs own stomach acid into each of their many offsets although this is a long and tedious effort because if even one leg is missed the sea star can live on. also the drastic change in farming and pollution i.e. slight fertilizers can decrease the numbers of phytoplankton.

The crown-of-thorns starfish are a threat to the environment on the Great Barrier Reef, but the problem can be solved with time, lots of course and monitoring by biologists and researchers in the region.

BibliographyBooks?Shaw, Jeff, 2007, ?Reef Invader: The efflorescence of Thorns Starfish??Johnson, Craig, summit-of-Thorns Starfish on the Great Barrier Reef?Vaisutis, Justine, 2005, Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, Lonely Planet?McGovern, Ann, 1989, bulge out Under, Down UnderInternet?Aims Research, ?Reef Monitoring?, April 30, 2003, (online) http://www3.aims.gov.au/pages/research/reef-monitoring/ltm/ltm20030307-gbr.html??The Crown of Thorns?, (online) http://www.tellusconsultants.com/Thread/ACANTH.HTM??Crown of Thorns Starfish?, 2006, (online) http://www.answers.com/national/crown-of-thorns-starfish??The Great Barrier Reef Australia? (online) http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/

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