Wave of Predatory Starfish Decimate Palawan's Reefs

Locusts of the sea, they come by the thousands – and leave behind a watery graveyard of coral skeletons.

An enormous wave of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is wreaking havoc on Palawan’s Green Island Bay, famed for harbouring one of the country’s few remaining populations of dugong.

“The damage wrought by this year’s outbreak is very alarming,” said Sheila Albasin, WWF Roxas Population, Health & Environment Project Manager. “Live coral cover in one marine protected area dropped from last year’s 70% to a mere 10% - due mostly to starfish predation.”

Largest of its kind, the crown-of-thorns starfish or “cots” is a robust and voracious echinoderm that feeds exclusively on the tissue of living coral. A single adult can obliterate 10 square meters of healthy reef annually.

Unchecked, they pose a major threat to national food security - since a healthy square kilometre of coral reef can produce up to 30-tonnes of fish - or more importantly, food - yearly...