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The crown-of-thorns starfish (frequently abbreviated to COTS), [1] Acanthaster planci, is a large starfish that preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps (Scleractinia). The crown-of-thorns starfish receives its name from venomous thornlike spines that cover its upper surface, resembling the biblical crown of thorns. It is one of the largest ...
Starfish are widespread in the oceans, but are only occasionally used as food. There may be good reason for this: the bodies of numerous species are dominated by bony ossicles, and the body wall of many species contains saponins, which have an unpleasant taste, [77] and others contain tetrodotoxins which are poisonous. [139]
Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (from Latin ophiurus 'brittle star'; from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis) 'serpent' and οὐρά (ourá) 'tail'; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms ...
Acanthaster is a bitypic genus of large and venomous starfish placed in its own family, Acanthasteridae.Its two members are known as crown-of-thorns starfish.Acanthaster are native to coral reefs in Indo-Pacific region.
For decades, scientists theorized a starfish didn’t have heads. A new study finds that they might, in fact, only have heads. A Study Says Starfish Are Basically Walking Heads, and Literally ...
The common starfish, common sea star or sugar starfish (Asterias rubens) is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae , it has five arms and usually grows to between 10–30 cm across, although larger specimens (up to 52 cm across) are known.
Sea star wasting disease or starfish wasting syndrome is a disease of starfish and several other echinoderms that appears sporadically, causing mass mortality of those affected. [1] There are approximately 40 species of sea stars that have been affected by this disease. At least 20 of these species were on the Northwestern coast of Mexico to ...
A starfish has five identical arms with a layer of “tube feet” beneath them that can help the marine creature move along the seafloor, causing naturalists to puzzle over whether sea stars have ...