Overfishing might be the cause of reef-munching starfish outbreaks

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-02-03 03:00

Australia; QLD; TAS

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash, Story by Ben Kaldi - Australian Science Media Centre

Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) are notorious for crunching down on coral reefs, and Australian researchers believe that some of the starfish outbreaks could be due to overfishing of the predatory fish that eat them. The team compared areas of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) that have banned, limited or no restrictions on fishing, and say that in the no-take reserves, there is a 3.6- and 2.8- times higher chance of CoTS being eaten by predators, than where fishing is permitted or limited, respectively. The researchers say the elevated risk to the spiny critters in no-take reserves is directly attributable to a single species - the spangled emperor (Lethrinus nebulosus) - which has a 6.3-times greater biomass on the no-take areas versus the fished areas.

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Journal/
conference: Current Biology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: James Cook University, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania

Funder: No information provided.

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