Weird Marine Science

The New York Times has an article about predation by starfish on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, causing much damage to this, the largest thing created by living things on earth. The culprit is the crown of thorns starfish which eats coral.

Normally, the starfish contribute to the reef’s diversity by eating faster-growing coral species, which allow for slower-growing species to thrive. But at outbreak levels, the starfish are able to eat coral — a polyp that builds the limestone reefs on which they communally live — faster than the coral can reproduce.

Interestingly, the reef at Exmouth on Australia’s west side has crown of thorns starfish but, we were assured by a marine biologist, for unknown reasons they do not constitute a problem locally. To our untrained eyes two months ago, the reef at Exmouth looked as lush and happy as our interlocutor said it was. Clearly there are variables at work which remain poorly understood.