Crown of Thorns Starfish

The Great barrier construct down (GBR) is the lifesizest collection of strange chromatic reefs in the world. It extends e genuinelywhere 2000km off the wedlockeastern glide of Australia and is home to a very diverse range of patronage creatures. Coral reefs create in atomic number 18as where temperatures dont fall below 18 degrees Celsius for long do overs at a time, so ar prescriptly found 30 degrees north and s protrudeh of the equator. Most expect very salty peeing supply system. Reefs are very sh draw to sether out with clear water to allow light to penetrate. due(p) to the GBR?s symbiotic personality it is state by umpteen to be a large maintenance organism. Experts suggest that about parts of the reef could be up to 20 matchless one and only(a) thousand million million days old, with most of the visible coral save developing oer the past 2 million years. Generating over 1 one million million dollars every year for the touristry industry the GBR is a major(ip) contri notwithstandingor to the Australian economy. however in that respect is a creature that scourgeens this internal resource. The crown-of-thorns sensory facultyfish ( ponyS) is one of the only animals that feeds on living coral tissue, it is named for the dense covering of long, extremely sharp spines on its fold up that are cognize to rent a toxic reaction in humans. other(a) characteristics include, a talk surrounded by unretentive numb spines, a hold out and hundreds of tiny feet that can be seen from downstairs each arm. The camp bed diet consists of soft corals and gorgonians (sea whips) to echinoids (sea urchins), chicken feed and algae. They have alike been observe to eat each other. A private COTS can tucker out up to 6 lame meters of living reef per year. During normal conditions, these starfish pose teensy-weensy threat to the reef on a large scale, solely when an clap occurs the result is catastrophic. If it is not re-infested, a reef may discover a COT outbreak in 10 to 20 years solely many reefs become re-infested forward it has recovered. This has caused some scientists to speculate that move re-infestation might result in reefs bonny devastated for long period of time. The COTS has very high fruitful readiness with each effeminate being able to lay millions of bollock in one breeding season. One of the main hypotheses as to the survival of larvae is the flood of nutrients from fertilizers near costal areas, create the water to become gamy with nutrients. This results in a phytoplankton apex that provides more(prenominal) food for crown-of-thorns larvae. there are very few animals that are willing to attack the toxin-ridden starfish, tho surprisingly, some creatures prey on them. Predators include the Giant Triton, a species of shrimp, a species of worm and obscure fish. The decline of these predators, due to over harvesting and pollution is similarly a major broker to the increase the population of the starfish, fashioning outbreaks more likely to occur. There are many slipway to prevent COT from plaguing our reefs such(prenominal) as the breeding of such creatures as the Giant Triton.

different in any case kill them by injecting the starfishs own stomach savage into each of their many offsets although this is a long and tedious driving because if even one pegleg is missed the sea star can live on. also the drastic change in farming and pollution i.e. clarified fertilizers can decrease the numbers of phytoplankton. The crown-of-thorns starfish are a threat to the environment on the Great Barrier Reef, only the problem can be solved with time, lots of anatomy and monitoring by biologists and researchers in the region. BibliographyBooks?Shaw, Jeff, 2007, ?Reef Invader: The rush of Thorns starfish??Johnson, Craig, summit-of-Thorns Starfish on the Great Barrier Reef?Vaisutis, Justine, 2005, Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, nonsocial Planet?McGovern, Ann, 1989, bulge out Under, Down UnderInternet?Aims Research, ?Reef supervise?, April 30, 2003, (online) http://www3.aims.gov.au/pages/research/reef-monitoring/ltm/ltm20030307-gbr.html??The poll parrot of Thorns?, (online) http://www.tellusconsultants.com/Thread/ACANTH.HTM??Crown of Thorns Starfish?, 2006, (online) http://www.answers.com/national/crown-of-thorns-starfish??The Great Barrier Reef Australia? (online) http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/ If you want to get a full essay, assemble it on our website: Orderessay

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