Common Name: Short-spined Crown Of Thorns Starfish

Distribution: Rare in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the East Indian Ocean and Australia. In Australia most records from the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland on the east coast and the Exmouth region of Western Australia, also Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs in the Coral Sea.

Ecological Notes: Little is known of the feeding habits and preferred habitat of this species.  Specimens have been observed on soft and hard substrate, with some trawled as bycatch from a sandy bottom east of Townsville, Queensland. Also included in the trawl were two species of scallops. Later laboratory experiments revealed the starfish was able to successfully trap and ingest the scallops.

Additional Notes: The specimens pictured here are amongst the first to be recorded in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. A group of around 30 was first sighted and further investigations reveal there may be significantly more present. They have some similarities to the Crown of Thorns Seastar (COTS) and occur sympatrically with them in many regions, including Australia. It can be distinguished from the COTS by the dense blunt spines on the upper (aboral) surface of the disc, purple-brown aboral surface becomes more intense along the arms, pale marks on the disc between each arm and the spines along the arms are not as long as those found on the COTS. Specimens photographed were around 25cm across on hard substrate.

References: Atlas of Living Australia website at Acanthaster brevispinus accessed 16/12/2024