Crown Of Thorns Starfish On Coral Reefs
Pitch: This article is written to inform the reader of the issues pose by crown of thorns starfish on coral reefs. The target audience is the general public who may view coral reefs as a tourist destination. There is a need to warn about crown of thorns as research shows that it causes more destruction to corals reefs than bleaching or other disturbances. More details on how these starfish population boomed are given in the article, revealing both natural and anthropogenic factors. The article however ends on a positive note since this threat can be managed through direct intervention to reduce the crown of thorns population. The first photo graph is chosen to show how the crown of thorns outbreak looks like in a coral reef. The second photo
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The feeding is through eversion, whereby the gastric sacs (stomach) is pushed out of its mouth to surround the corals before releasing enzymes that digest the coral tissues into a liquid slush for consumption. A single crown of thorns can feed up to the size of a dinner plate in 1 night which is equivalent to 10m2 in a year!
Under normal conditions, the crown of thorn population is small and maintains coral species biodiversity by consuming the fast-growing species. However in the recent decades, population density of crown of thorns are getting unsustainable, resulting in the localized extinction of corals where outbreaks of crown of thorns occurred. An outbreak is defined as more than 30 adults in one hectare of reefs or when the rate of coral consumption is more than the rate of coral …show more content…
In an experiment done by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the crown of thorns reacts violently in waters which once held its predator, the giant triton shell. The giant triton shell is a large gastropod that feeds on crown of thorns but due to its low metabolism, it can only consume one crown of thorn per week. A chemical released by the giant triton seems to be causing fear and panic in the crown of thorns which is deaf and nearly blind, relying on its keen sense of smell to navigate. If the chemical can be made known and produced, it can be placed on coral reefs especially those with great ecological and economic importance to protect the coral against these vicious coral
The feeding is through eversion, whereby the gastric sacs (stomach) is pushed out of its mouth to surround the corals before releasing enzymes that digest the coral tissues into a liquid slush for consumption. A single crown of thorns can feed up to the size of a dinner plate in 1 night which is equivalent to 10m2 in a year!
Under normal conditions, the crown of thorn population is small and maintains coral species biodiversity by consuming the fast-growing species. However in the recent decades, population density of crown of thorns are getting unsustainable, resulting in the localized extinction of corals where outbreaks of crown of thorns occurred. An outbreak is defined as more than 30 adults in one hectare of reefs or when the rate of coral consumption is more than the rate of coral …show more content…
In an experiment done by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the crown of thorns reacts violently in waters which once held its predator, the giant triton shell. The giant triton shell is a large gastropod that feeds on crown of thorns but due to its low metabolism, it can only consume one crown of thorn per week. A chemical released by the giant triton seems to be causing fear and panic in the crown of thorns which is deaf and nearly blind, relying on its keen sense of smell to navigate. If the chemical can be made known and produced, it can be placed on coral reefs especially those with great ecological and economic importance to protect the coral against these vicious coral