Acanthaster planci
Crown-of-thorns seastar | Coral-eating Starfish | Coral-feeding Starfish | Giant Thorny Starfish
Distribution
Tropical Eastern Pacific, Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Large heavy bodied starfish, with numerous stout arms. Covered with thick sharp spines, which are venomous. Variable colouring. Feeds on hard corals by everting it\'s stomach, and occasionally occurs in plague proportions, devastating the reef.
Information
Max Size: 80 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 19.1-31.1°C
Depth: 0-65m
Habitat Generalization Index: N/A
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Not Evaluated
Occurrence: Infrequent (7.5% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields