CROWN OF THORNS STARFISH POPULATION STUDIES AND MANAGEMENT

WHAT ARE CROWN OF THORNS STARFISH?

The Crown of Thorns is an incredibly resilient and tenacious species of starfish which feeds on corals. These starfish can grow to be over 50 centimeters in diameter, and 1 individual can consume over 13 square meters of coral reef per year. Their populations have been on the rise globally since the 1970’s, with outbreaks in over 30 locations from Red Sea to the Great Barrier Reef. In some reefs, outbreaks of these coralivores have been responsible for collapses in corals and associated fish and invertebrate communities. Although a natural part of the ecosystem, due to anthropogenic factors these starfish are now causing great ecological and economic problems for reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific. The major factors contributing to the global rise in Crown of Thorns populations include:
  • Nutrient enrichment of coastal seas: more nutrients yields more phyto-/zooplankton, which means that more of the pelagic starfish larvae that would otherwise starve to death can survive.
  • Predator removal:
    In the pelagic stage any filter feeder, including hard corals, will eat the starfish larvae. After reaching juvenile stage, fishes such as wrasse, damsels, and snappers will eat the starfishes. But once they become adults very few predators will eat be able to eat the toxic starfishes (except some triggerfish, pufferfish, and large snails like the triton trumpet.) Unfortunately all of theses species are targeted or removed as by-catch in the fishing industry.
Predator removal: In the pelagic stage any filter feeder, including hard corals, will eat the starfish larvae. After reaching juvenile stage, fishes such as wrasse, damsels, and snappers will eat the starfishes. But once they become adults very few predators will eat be able to eat the toxic starfishes (except some triggerfish, pufferfish, and large snails like the triton trumpet.) Unfortunately all of theses species are targeted or removed as by-catch in the fishing industry.

Crown of Thorns Removal 2014 - 2023

The number of Crown of Thorns that we have removed over the years. 2019 onwards we saw a decline in the number of crown of thorns in the area but 2023 has had a significant increase in the first 5 months. 

HOW MANY COTS ARE THERE ON KOH TAO’S REEFS?

COTs occur in low abundance around Koh Tao, so are unlikely to be observed in the 400 square meter survey that we do each week (4 by 100 sq. m replicates). So first we graphed how often we would see any COTS at all during surveys. It turns out that over 375 surveys over 9 years we record COTS in 16.3% of the surveys. But this number is not consistent over each year. In fact, it appears that we had a major spike in COTs abundance in 2010, where they were observed in about 25% of the surveys completed. (see graph below).
In 2010, we at the NHRCP began collecting COTs to relieve damage to remaining coral populations following the mass coral bleaching event that year, in which up to 68% of the hard corals died in some shallow reef areas. We also began promoting the collection of the starfish at monthly Save Koh Tao Meetings with other dive schools from around the island. Furthermore, the monthly collection of COTs was made into a requirement for the Save Koh Tao Adopt-A-Reef Program in selected areas.
Interestingly, the percent of surveys in which a COT is recorded has fallen every year since 2010, reaching a 9 year low of 7.1% of the 56 surveys already completed in 2014 (note, 2007 is excluded as only 3 surveys were completed that year). This could be due to other factors at play, but we hope that our efforts at controlling them are helping the situation.

According to available literature, it is thought that COTs reproduce through spawning events once per year, in April for the Northern Hemisphere. So we decided to graph the abundance of COTs by month, to see when they are aggregating in preparation for a spawning event. Contrary to the publications, we see that there are two peaks in abundance each year, one during March and the other in October. We now have some more work to do to understand what these two peaks in abundance mean, is it two spawning seasons or is there some other reason for the two asymmetrical peaks in the graph below?
According to the literature, an outbreak situation is when populations of COTs reach abundance greater than 140 individuals per hectare. In some areas, such as the Great Barrier Reef, abundances have exceeded 1,000 individuals per hectare. But this criterion for outbreaks does not consider the coral coverage or health of the reef. For a healthy reef with 80-90% hard coral coverage 100 indiv./Ha may be sustainable, but for a depleted reef with only 6% coral coverage this may be considered far too many. We first calculated the total average abundance of COTS from all the data, and found it to be 6.6 indiv./Ha, which is low, but still enough to cause a lot of coral mortality.
Our next thought was to calculate the average abundance of COTs at the different sites we survey to see where the COTs are around the island (note: only sites with more than 10 surveys were included in the graph at right). Luckily, none of our sites show outbreak levels of COTs when the data is averaged over all years, although we have had 5 individual surveys where the abundance ranged between 100-200 Indiv./Ha. The site with the highest average abundance was Mango Bay with an average of 18.8 Indiv./Ha (16 surveys over 9 years). The site with the lowest abundance was Shark Island, but it should also be noted that the deep survey line at Shark Island does not include a high abundance of hard corals for COTs to feed on. Our future investigation will be look at the percentage coral coverage compared to the abundance of COTs for each site so we can create a more weighted criteria for predicting COTs outbreaks on our local reefs.
 
Later in 2014, we will be hosting two interns who will be working on separate thesis projects to further investigate the situation of Crown of Thorns starfish around Koh Tao. In the mean time, we are still performing monthly collections, with already 89 individuals removed from the reefs this year (sizes ranging from 3 cm – 43 cm). These collections are done in conjunction with the removal of other coral predators such as the Drupella Snails, which were recorded to reach outbreak level populations in some areas around Koh Tao during 2010.

Our efforts to study and manage Crown of Thorns Starfish populations around Koh Tao is entirely funded and facilitated by the students and interns in our Reef Conservation Courses. By joining our courses you can learn about the management of coralivores and assist us in our efforts to protect and restore the coral reefs of Koh Tao.
Book a course
For more in depth scientific literature and information, our porgram's publications on the Crown of Thorns Starfish can be accessed at the links below:

2017

2014

Student publications on the Crown of Thorns Starfish:

2015

  • Phone

    New Heaven Dive School office 9am-7pm: +66 (0) 77 457 045

  • Email

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • Address
    48 Moo 3 Chalok Baan Kao
    Koh Tao, Surat Thani
    84360, Thailand
Copyright 2016
New Heaven Reef Conservation Program