Feb 24, 2016 | COTS, Grants, Research
(updated 8 May 2020) The life of a Crown of-Thorns Starfish Acanthaster cf. solaris (CoTS) progresses through five main stages: 1. Egg > blastula > gastrula A single large female CoTS can produce 100 million eggs over a spawning season. This occurs during the... 
Nov 25, 2015 | COTS, Grants, People
Zara-Louise Cowan is currently completing her PhD at James Cook University. She is researching the early life stages of the reef’s most destructive creature, the Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS). Specifically she is looking into predators of larval COTS and under... 
Oct 12, 2015 | COTS, Grants, Research
COTS is a global issue Massive population outbreaks of the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp. referred to as COTS) destroy reef after reef as they spread. The current outbreak on the Great Barrier Reef is the fourth recorded since the 1960’s. ... 
Feb 15, 2015 | COTS, Grants, Research
The crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci (COTS) is a native Australian species. It eats coral. Periodically its population increases to plague proportions, killing off large areas of coral that take decades to grow back. We still have a lot to learn about...