#68516 - 12/03/07 08:17 PM
Crown of Thorns
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Can't believe how many Crown of Thorns starfish are eating the coral at Moorea. We may have a pretty big problem there in a couple of years. They dissappeared as mysteriously as they appeared on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, so fingers crossed for Moorea. I didn't dive at Bora Bora this trip, but does anyone know if they are as prevalent there too?
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Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#68522 - 12/04/07 06:55 AM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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auwe
Member
Registered: 07/18/07
Posts: 43
Loc: netherlands
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Hi, we have dived Rangiroa, Fakarava, Nuku Hiva and Moorea. We saw none in Nuku Hiva and Fakarava but also a LOT in Moorea. Some divers thought is was a very pretty thing untill I explained how they destroy coral! I do not know if they can be destroyed without harming nature in moorea??
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#68551 - 12/05/07 03:44 PM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: auwe]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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In Australia, we injected them with lead (spread out so they wouldn't regenerate). I think the temperature wiped them out. That's mine and some other marine biologists theories. Hope the same happens at FP.
Edited by Gary & Cath (12/05/07 03:45 PM)
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Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#68561 - 12/06/07 10:48 AM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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DenverJoe
Expert Advisor
Registered: 09/10/02
Posts: 1849
Loc: Denver, Co.
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There was a very interesting National Geographic program on the NatGeo channel about crown of thorns seastars last weekend. They used the Great Barrier reef as their filming area. The infestation was bad! Glad to hear that it has cleared up. Hopefully, the same will happen in Moorea.
We were in the Cook Islands a few years ago and they had whole villages out on the reef collecting and carting them off. It seems like a worldwide problem.
Scientists from AIMS have determined that it's all the fertilizer runoff feeding and increasing the algae that the young Crown of Thorns feed on that has greatly contributed to the population explosion. Young ones that should have starved to death now have plenty of food to reach adulthood.
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Nothing better than a Hinano in hand and toes in the sand.
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#68596 - 12/08/07 05:41 PM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: DenverJoe]
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YosemiteGirl2
Member
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 335
Loc: California
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We saw a ton of them on the fringing reef closest to Le Taha'a.
As a gardener, I favor simply removing these pests manually from the reef (just like I would in my organic garden!), as long as there is a safe way to do so. PADI and NAUI should sponsor programs where recreational divers take them off the reef (and out of the water), just like we do for trash. I'm sure there are plenty of them lurking about that our efforts will not endanger the existence of the species.
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#68597 - 12/08/07 05:43 PM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: YosemiteGirl2]
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YosemiteGirl2
Member
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 335
Loc: California
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PS: Is it true that the spines are poisonous? Also, is it true that spearing them releases eggs or embryos out onto the reef? I have heard both things in different places but am woefully ignorant of the actual anatomy of these things.
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#68599 - 12/08/07 06:05 PM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: YosemiteGirl2]
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2365
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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Algae growth-not good! The Crown of Thorns looks like it might be the canary in the coal mine. Even if one gets rid of them, it won't get rid of the algae problem. Too bad about the fertilizer. Dish and clothes soap don't help either. I use vegetable based soaps at home,and I wondered if Tahiti couldn't produce vegetable based laundry and dish soaps . I also have another question which I have been wondering about for awhile. What do they do with their sewage? Is it pumped out and then treated? I have a lot of interest in sewage and garbage, as weird as that may seem, but it is a huge problem everywhere. When we were in Mexico in the Si'an Kaan Biosphere , a nature preserve of several million acres, the beach was filled as far as the eye could see ,with plastic of all kinds.
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#68607 - 12/09/07 04:26 AM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: holte]
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DenverJoe
Expert Advisor
Registered: 09/10/02
Posts: 1849
Loc: Denver, Co.
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YG2. according to the NatGeo program, the spines have some sort of venom in them. When they inject them, they have to hit every 'arm' or they won't die. I didn't see anything about the spearing and releasing eggs you refer to. They did make them release eggs in the lab just to see the quantity produced. The program said 1 male and 1 female were capable of producing 50 million eggs over their lifespan.
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Nothing better than a Hinano in hand and toes in the sand.
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#68630 - 12/10/07 07:02 PM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: DenverJoe]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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They are VERY poisonous. If you get spiked with one, the only way to avoid infection is to completely remove the spike (for the faint hearted - do not read on).
The spine needs to be dug out of the skin - like a mini mining expedition. This usually leaves a small crater in the skin, but the effects of the venom will also be removed. It makes you nausious and tired for a few days (much like a sting from a Lion Fish or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Very nasty stuff. These nasty critters are best avoided.
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Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#68700 - 12/17/07 09:22 AM
Re: Crown of Thorns
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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YosemiteGirl2
Member
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 335
Loc: California
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This board is so great -- I knew there were people out there who knew about the CoT. Thank you for all the responses. Now that I know how dangerous the starfish are, I understand why no mass effort to pick them off the reefs has been started. Yikes!
Like holte, I too wonder how they dispose of sewage. Unlike garbage (which we can at least in some cases take back home with us to dispose of there), we can't really avoid generating sewage.
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