The Crown Of Thorns Starfish Great Barrier Reef
Solaris is a coral eating starfish that is native to the great barrier reef.
The crown of thorns starfish great barrier reef. Planci can produce up to 65 million eggs and eat 10 square metres of coral. Crown of thorns starfish cots for short feed on coral. They cause devastation to ecosystems as they move through in waves.
They tend to eat the faster growing corals which gives the slower growing species a chance to catch up enhancing the coral diversity of our reefs. They can have as many as 21 arms 600 ovaries and are covered in hundreds of poisonous spines up to 4cm long. A single adult cots can consume approximately 10m2 of coral per year and under normal conditions the level of coral predation by cots can be sustained with no apparent long term reef degradation.
These spiky marine creatures occur naturally on reefs in the indo pacific region including the great barrier reef. Cots have phenomenal reproductive abilities. In a single year a.
Climate change is having a significant impact and voracious crown of thorns starfish cots are an ongoing major issue. As with pest species like locusts that wreak havoc on crops cots numbers can explode. They eat their way through coral and impact restoration efforts.
In normal numbers on healthy coral reefs cots are an important part of the ecosystem.