Thorns eat themselves inside and outside the house

World-first studies on the Great Barrier Reef show that crowned thornfish have the ability to find their way home – a behavior that was previously undocumented – but only if their neighbors are stocked with their favorite food: corals.

Australian researchers observed starfish emerging from their habitats in the afternoon so they could feed the coral during the night before returning home.

“Starfish with crowned thorns often parted all night, slept, and found their way only to people with well-loaded larders – so she was a teenage model of behavior,” said lead author Dr. Said Scott Ling. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania.

“Their preferred prey is the acropora corals,” said Professor Morgan Prachet, co-author of the Excel for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the ARC Center at James Cook University (Coralcoi in JCU). Acropora are an important coral species – they have been a barrier to rock formation around the world for the last two million years.

“Starfish did not return home when the acropora population declined,” Pro. “Their behavior is directly linked to the local abundance of acropora.”

The results of this study show that healthy coral-covered rocks can promote crown-thorn accumulation and eruption. The eruption causes extensive, widespread and sustained coral damage throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

Examples that could lead to environmental degradation due to predatory infestations include marine archana, kelp forests, and coral reef fish being trampled by seabed.

During the eruption in 2015, researchers used time-lapse photography to monitor the movements of 58 starfish in the Great Barrier Reef to the north and south. In the absence of their favorite acropora coral prey, starfish were generally homeless and roamed instead. 20 meters per day.

“Unlike marine arkins, which can once turn clump forests into overgrown food, time lapse monitoring results indicate that starfish will consume available acropora and eventually eat themselves indoors and outdoors before dispersing in search of new food grounds.” Ling said.

The previous eruptions on the Great Barrier Reef were in 1962, 1979, 1993 and 2009. Although mass-coral bleaching is now the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide due to global warming, the combined impact of mass-bleaching and crown-thorn outbreaks is a potential catastrophe for coral reefs.

“By better understanding the behavior of these starfish we can help prevent and control their outbreaks, which will help relieve the pressure on coral reefs,” said Prof.

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society b.

Provided by ARC Center Excel f Excellence for Coral Reef Studies