Eyes and negative phototaxis in juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, <i>Acanthaster</i> species complex

Korsvig-Nielsen, Camilla Elinor; Hall, Mike; Motti, Cherie A.; Garm, Anders

doi:10.1242/bio.041814

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Corallivorous juveniles and adults consume a range of coral species as well as filamentous and foliose algae when coral is scarce, further demonstrating the dietary resilience of COTS [ 16 , 96 ]. As they grow, their visual spatial resolution used to recognise suitable coral reef habitat and food increases [ 97 ]. During the first 40 days of the diet switch to coral, juveniles may be damaged or killed by coral tentacles [ 95 , 98 ].…”

Section: Why Are Cots So Successful?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Deaker

Byrne

2022

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

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Crown of thorns starfish (COTS, Acanthaster sp.) are notorious for their destructive consumption of coral that decimates tropical reefs, an attribute unique among tropical marine invertebrates. Their populations can rapidly increase from 0–1 COTS ha−1 to more than 10–1000 COTS ha−1 in short order causing a drastic change to benthic communities and reducing the functional and species diversity of coral reef ecosystems. Population outbreaks were first identified to be a significant threat to coral reefs in the 1960s. Since then, they have become one of the leading causes of coral loss along with coral bleaching. Decades of research and significant investment in Australia and elsewhere, particularly Japan, have been directed towards identifying, understanding, and managing the potential causes of outbreaks and designing population control methods. Despite this, the drivers of outbreaks remain elusive. What is becoming increasingly clear is that the success of COTS is tied to their inherent biological traits, especially in early life. Survival of larval and juvenile COTS is likely to be enhanced by their dietary flexibility and resilience to variable food conditions as well as their phenotypically plastic growth dynamics, all magnified by the extreme reproductive potential of COTS. These traits enable COTS to capitalise on anthropogenic disturbances to reef systems as well as endure less favourable conditions.

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Section: Why Are Cots So Successful?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Deaker

Byrne

2022

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

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“…Outbreaks of COTS cause massive coral loss and, in some regions of the Great Barrier Reef, are thought to be responsible for up to 42% of coral death [7][8][9][10] . While COTS have been well studied with respect to population outbreaks 11 , toxins 12 , life cycle 13 and vision [14][15][16] , little is known about other aspects of their biology, including neurobiology. As well, their ability to rapidly regenerate damaged limbs, a major contributor to their survival, has had limited investigation, besides some morphological experiments 17 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Structure and proteomic analysis of the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster sp.) radial nerve cord

Smith

Rotgans

Lang

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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The nervous system of the Asteroidea (starfish or seastar) consists of radial nerve cords (RNCs) that interconnect with a ring nerve. Despite its relative simplicity, it facilitates the movement of multiple arms and numerous tube feet, as well as regeneration of damaged limbs. Here, we investigated the RNC ultrastructure and its molecular components within the of Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS; Acanthaster sp.), a well-known coral predator that in high-density outbreaks has major ecological impacts on coral reefs. We describe the presence of an array of unique small bulbous bulbs (40–100 μm diameter) that project from the ectoneural region of the adult RNC. Each comprise large secretory-like cells and prominent cilia. In contrast, juvenile COTS and its congener Acanthaster brevispinus lack these features, both of which are non-corallivorous. Proteomic analysis of the RNC (and isolated neural bulbs) provides the first comprehensive echinoderm protein database for neural tissue, including numerous secreted proteins associated with signalling, transport and defence. The neural bulbs contained several neuropeptides (e.g., bombyxin-type, starfish myorelaxant peptide, secretogranin 7B2-like, Ap15a-like, and ApNp35) and Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumor 1-like proteins. In summary, this study provides a new insight into the novel traits of COTS, a major pest on coral reefs, and a proteomics resource that can be used to develop (bio)control strategies and understand molecular mechanisms of regeneration.

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“…These results suggest that shorter acclimatisation periods used for COTS (e.g. 2 days - 3 weeks) (Teruya et al, 2001; Petie et al, 2016a; Petie et al, 2016b; Smith et al, 2017; Korsvig-Nielsen et al, 2019) may be insufficient to obtain natural responses to experimental treatments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crown-of-thorns starfish in captivity experience sustained large-scale changes in gene expression

Morin

Jönsson

Wang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Marine animals in the wild are often difficult to access, so that biologists have to extrapolate from the study of animals in captivity. However, the implicit assumption that physiological and cellular processes of animals in artificial environments are not significantly different from those in the wild has rarely been tested. Here we investigate the extent to which the biological state of an animal is impacted by captivity by comparing global gene expression in wild and captive crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS). We compare transcriptomes of three external tissues obtained from wild COTS with captive COTS maintained in aquaria for at least one week. On average, an astonishingly large 24% of the coding sequences in the genome are differentially expressed. Comparing transcriptomes from coelomocytes – cells in internal coelomic fluid – in wild and captive COTS, we find that 20% of the coding sequences in the genome rapidly change expression. These captive transcriptomes remained markedly different from the wild ones for more than 30 days in captivity, and showed no indication of reverting back to a wild state. Genes consistently upregulated in captivity include those involved in oxidative stress and energy metabolism, whereas genes downregulated are involved in intercellular signalling. These extensive changes in gene expression in captive COTS suggest that captivity has a profound and sustained impact on the physiology, behaviour and health of these echinoderms. The potential for such dramatic changes should be accounted for when designing studies seeking to understand wild animals.

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Eyes and negative phototaxis in juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster species complex

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Structure and proteomic analysis of the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster sp.) radial nerve cord

Crown-of-thorns starfish in captivity experience sustained large-scale changes in gene expression

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