Details
Acanthaster planci
The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large echinoderm of Indian and Pacific reefs. It is a solitary carnivore that feeds on living coral tissue.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits tropical coral reefs, including reef slopes and lagoons rich in hard corals. Reef structure and coral cover define its living space.
Diameter is about 25-80 cm, and weight about 0.2-3 kg. It has many arms, sharp spines, and variable colors from gray and purple to reddish brown.
It is solitary and treated here as diurnal. It moves slowly on tube feet and spreads its body over coral colonies while feeding.
It is carnivorous, mainly eating the tissue of reef-building corals. The stomach is everted over the coral surface to digest it externally.
Adults spawn eggs and sperm into the water. Larvae drift in the plankton before settling to the reef and developing into juveniles.
Its conservation status is LC. Local population surges can place heavy pressure on coral reef communities.
