ArticleBiology letters2020
The hidden army: corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastars can spend years as herbivorous juveniles.
Article in Biology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparative genomic analysis reveals spine formation and coral prostaglandin tolerance in crown-of-thorns starfish.Fundamental research · 2026Article
- Protection of coral reef fish delivers ecosystem-critical biocontrol of coral-eating starfish across the Great Barrier Reef.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Genetic Evidence of Multiple and Diverse Range Expansion Events From an Outbreak of the Crown-of-Thorns Seastar,Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Methylome Profiling of a Deuterostome Invertebrate Using Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT).Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Little bites out of a big reef problem.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- eDNA confirms lower trophic interactions help to modulate population outbreaks of the notorious crown-of-thorns sea star.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Crown-of-thorns starfish complete their larval phase eating only nitrogen-fixingScience advances · 2024Article
- Chemosensory behaviour of juvenile crown-of-thorns sea star (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Structure and proteomic analysis of the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster sp.) radial nerve cord.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Settlement cue selectivity by larvae of the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Culling corallivores improves short-term coral recovery under bleaching scenarios.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2022Article
- Large-scale interventions may delay decline of the Great Barrier Reef.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Contrasting size and fate of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish linked to ontogenetic diet shifts.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Relative efficacy of three approaches to mitigate Crown-of-Thorns Starfish outbreaks on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- The hidden army: corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastars can spend years as herbivorous juveniles.Biology letters · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Crown-of-thorns seastar (COTS) outbreaks are a major threat to coral reefs. Although the herbivorous juveniles and their switch to corallivory are key to seeding outbreaks, they remain a black box in our understanding of COTS. We investigated the impact of a delay in diet transition due to coral scarcity in cohorts reared on crustose coralline algae for 10 months and 6.5 years before being offered coral. Both cohorts achieved an asymptotic size (16-18 mm diameter) on algae and had similar exponential growth on coral. After 6.5 years of herbivory, COTS were competent coral predators. This trophic and growth plasticity results in a marked age-size disconnect adding unappreciated complexity to COTS boom-bust dynamics. The potential that herbivorous juveniles accumulate in the reef infrastructure to seed outbreaks when favourable conditions arise has implications for management of COTS populations.
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