The corallivorous crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp.) is a major cause of coral mortality on Indo-Pacific reefs. Despite considerable research into the biology of crown-of-thorns starfish, our understanding of the early post-settlement life s...
Population irruptions of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.) represent a perennial threat to Indo-Pacific coral reefs, often causing extensive coral loss and contributing to reef degradation. Therefore, extensive efforts are being made...
Coral ingestion by crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) is an important cause of coral reef degradation, although the impacts of COTS feeding on coral-associated microbial communities are not well understood. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the cora...
Outbreaks of crown-of-thorn starfish (COTS) have caused dramatic declines in reefs through predation on corals, but the post-bloom effects of COTS may still potentially threaten the environment and living organisms due to massive organic decompositio...
The crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster spp.), is responsible for a considerable amount of coral loss in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. After decimating coral populations through predation, it is expected that CoTS will face food scarcity...
Like most coral reef organisms, crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp.) are expected to be highly vulnerable to predation as they transition from a planktonic larval phase to settling among reef habitats. Accordingly, crown-of-thorns starfish mig...
Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish are often attributed to step-changes in larval survivorship following anomalous increases in nutrients and food availability. However, larval growth and development is also influenced by the nutritional condition...
Research on the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) has waxed and waned over the last few decades, mostly in response to population outbreaks at specific locations. This review considers advances in our understanding of the biology and ecolo...
For broadcast spawning invertebrates such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, early life history stages (from spawning to settlement) may be exposed to a wide range of environmental conditions, and could have a major bearing on reproductive success and...
The ecological impact of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.) on coral reefs is intrinsically linked to their feeding behaviour. Management thresholds designed to mitigate coral loss driven by elevated densities of crown-of-thorns starfi...
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is currently experiencing widespread crown of thorns starfish (CoTS) outbreaks, as part of the fourth wave of outbreaks since 1962. It is believed that these outbreaks have become more frequent on the GBR and elsewhere in...
Previous studies have suggested that Crown-of-Thorns starfish (COTS) larvae may be able to survive in the absence of abundant phytoplankton resources suggesting that they may be able to utilize alternative food sources. Here, we tested the hypothesis...
Specific patterns in the initiation and spread of reef-wide outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish are important, both to understand potential causes (or triggers) of outbreaks and to develop more effective and highly targeted management and containme...
Background: Removal programs are effective strategies for short-term management of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster spp.) populations, especially on a small scale. However, management programs are costly, and, in order to be effective, they must...
Outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris, COTS) are one of the primary causes of coral decline in the Indo-Pacific region. Effective methods to control COTS outbreaks may therefore be one of the most direct and immediate way...
Timely, concerted, and persistent culling (or manual removal) is required to effectively manage population irruptions of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.). However, there are concerns that handling and culling gravid starfish may indu...
Despite the presence of numerous sharp poisonous spines, adult crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) are vulnerable to predation, though the importance and rates of predation are generally unknown. This study explores variation in the incidence and severit...
The dispersal potential of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) larvae is important in understanding both the initiation and spread of population outbreaks, and is fundamentally dependent upon how long larvae can persist while still retaining the capacity...
Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster solaris) outbreaks pose a significant threat to coral reef ecosystems, with climate change potentially exacerbating their distribution and impact. However, there remains only a small number of predictive...
Charonia tritonis (Charoniidae), one of the largest marine gastropods and an echinoderm specialist, preys on Crown-of-Thorns starfish (CoTS), a recurring pest that continues to be a leading cause of coral mortality on Indo-Pacific reefs. Widespread h...
Predatory release has long been considered a potential contributor to population outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.). This has initiated extensive searches for potentially important predators that can consume large numbers...
Carotenoids of the corals Acropora japonica, A. secale, and A. hyacinthus, the tridacnid clam Tridacna squamosa, the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci, and the small sea snail Drupella fragum were investigated. The corals and the tridacnid...
Two new α-pyrone derivatives, violapyrones H (1) and I (2), along with known violapyrones B (3) and C (4) were isolated from the fermentation broth of a marine actinomycete Streptomyces sp. The strain was derived from a crown-of-thorns starfish, Acan...
The amount of live and dead coral is related to recruitment, but differentiating them by remote sensing techniques is difficult. We measured change in the amount of live, bleached, and recently (<6 months) dead coral cover (CCA6) for an island arc...
Despite having been studied for more than 40 years, much about the basic life history of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.) remains poorly understood. Size at age—a key metric of productivity for any animal population—has yet to be cle...
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a marine protected area subject to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Water quality is critical for the health and protecting resilience of GBR coral ecosystems against the synergistic and cumulative pressures of...
It has been reported that the giant triton snail (Charonia tritonis) inserts its large proboscis and then injects venom or acid saliva from its salivary gland into its prey, the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci (COTS), paralyzing it. A ful...