![]() ![]() The unit also performed the same analyses on two other starfish species - the blue starfish and the northern Pacific sea star. ![]() ![]() The scientists then sequenced the entire DNA found in the mitochondria, comprised of over 16,000 nucleotide bases, and used differences in the sequences between the individual starfish to construct an evolutionary tree. The researchers collected crown-of-thorns starfish from coral reefs around three different islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago - Okinawa, Miyako and Iriomote. Now, in their latest study published in G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, the Marine Genomics Unit wanted to explore whether any information was recorded in the starfish genomes that could shed light on how and why these outbreaks occur. In 2017, the OIST Marine Genomics Unit teamed up with Australian scientists to decode the genome of the crown-of-thorns starfish, with their results published in Nature. ![]() These starfish outbreaks are becoming more common and more severe, as increasingly polluted and warmer waters aid the survival of the larvae. "Almost 40 years ago, Okinawa experienced a massive outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish, where over 1.5 million starfish had to be removed by divers by hand," said Professor Noriyuki Satoh, senior author of the student and leader of the Marine Genomics Unit at OIST.Īlthough outbreaks have recently become less frequent around Okinawa and other subtropical islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, they have become an increasingly large threat to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, along with coral bleaching and tropical cyclones. This can quickly lead to plagues, with uncontrollably large numbers of starfish rapidly destroying vast areas of coral reef. But their true danger lies in their potent reproductive ability, with female crown-of thorns starfish releasing millions of eggs in a single spawning. A single crown-of-thorns starfish is formidable, with a large body covered in spiky, venomous thorns. ![]()
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