Article Summary:

BBC Nature reports about a paper published in the journal “Coral Reefs” that pinpoints the cause of a mass stranding of crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) (COTS) as starvation. The starfish are well known for their voracious appetites for coral and the destruction that this predation causes. In this instance, the reefs around Ishigaki island, Japan, had an “outbreak” of (COTS) in 2009. At that time, the reefs had around 60% coral. The starfish have now reduced this to less than 1%, and the paper suggests that this lack of food caused a mass stranding with over 800 COTS emerging and dying on a beach in January 2012.