Crown of thorns starfish prey on coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef. (Photo : James Cook University)
Scientists have recently discovered that the solution to the invasive species known as crown of thorns starfish that preys on the corals of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, is apparently a common condiment seen in the kitchen, vinegar.
The Acanthaster planci or the crown of thorns starfish has been wreaking havoc via massive outbreaks of coral destruction that can cause dangerous repercussions to the whole marine ecosystem. In order to combat this problem, scientists are finding it extremely challenging to find effective solutions since it is more often than not costly, difficult to find and utilized chemicals that are harmful to marine life.
Now, researchers from the James Cook University have finally arrived at a breakthrough solution to this problem via injection of vinegar to different groups of the destructive sea star from Kimbe Bay, Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef and Papua New Guinea.
The Papua New Guinea specimens were administered wih 15 or 1.5 milliliters each using a hypodermic needle with a 29 gauge in two to four injection sites. The 99 specimens from the Great Barrier Reef were injected with 25, 20 and 15 or 1.5 milliliters of vinegar in one and two to four sites with a 19 gauge hypodermic needle.
The results revealed that 100 percent of all the starfish specimens in both groups eventually died in a matter of 48 hours after the vinegar injections.
Researchers also determined whether this method can pose as a threat to other marine life species where they fed the dead crown of thorns starfish to fish under laboratory conditions and showed no ill effects. According to lead author of the study, Lisa Boström-Einarsson, this part of the study should be taken further to larger scale research to make sure that this method will work and become safe to other marine life.
To date, divers use 10 to 12 milliliters of ox bile to kill the invasive species which is a rare substance and expensive to use, permitting its use at a certain concentration.
There are now 4 to 12 million crown of thorns starfish that are lurking in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef where a female starfish can produce 65 million eggs in only one breeding cycle. Last year, authorities were able to eradicate 350,000 starfish with two complete boat crews.
This new study is published in the Journal of the International Society for Reef Studies.
