Coral can fight back against attacking juvenile crown of thorns starfish—using stinging cells to injure and even kill, showing that coral are not as passive as people may think.
Plants & Animals
May 5, 2021
0
74
At 480 million years old, this fossil is the oldest starfish-like creature ever discovered.
Evolution
Mar 5, 2021
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19
For more than seven years, a mysterious wasting disease has nearly killed off sea star populations around the world. Some of these species stand at the brink of extinction.
Ecology
Jan 6, 2021
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1201
Common starfish cannot survive amplified marine heatwaves projected at the end of the century and experience lasting negative effects from current heatwaves, according to new research being presented on at the British Ecological ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 14, 2020
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3
A world-first study on the Great Barrier Reef shows crown-of-thorns starfish have the ability to find their own way home—a behavior previously undocumented—but only if their neighborhood is stocked with their favorite ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 3, 2020
0
59
For decades, biologists have captured tiny sea star larvae in their nets that did not match the adults of any known species. A Smithsonian team recently discovered what these larvae grow up to be and how a special superpower ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 13, 2020
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4
Crown-of-thorns starfish are renowned for eating coral and destroying coral reefs—but when juvenile crown-of-thorns first settle in reef environments they start out by eating rock-hard coralline algae. In a new study, Jennifer ...
Ecology
Jul 21, 2020
0
46
Cells in our nervous system, or neurons, communicate with other cells by releasing chemical messengers, which bind to receptor proteins on neighboring cells and change their activity. Neuropeptides are one type of chemical ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 14, 2020
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14
A new study by the Marine Laboratory at the University of Guam may help researchers predict coral bleaching months earlier than current tools, and, for the first time, may help predict invasion events of coral-eating crown-of-thorns ...
Environment
Jul 9, 2020
0
377
Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have revealed the evolutionary history of the crown-of-thorns starfish—a predator of coral that can devastate coral reefs. Their ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 8, 2020
0
54
