在爆发期间，高达150,000海星的大堡礁可以在仅一平方公里的一公里上扩散。然而，不知道是什么原因导致thor骨（COTS）暴发的原因，但是，科学家们认为，由于农业径流或温暖的海洋，它可能与增加水中的营养水平有关，从而导致浮游生物开花是海星幼虫的必要食物来源。
But the starfish has one feared predator, the Giant Trion Sea Snail.
Sea Snail Breeding
The Federal Government of Australia is funding a world-first research into breeding rare giant triton sea snails (Charonia tritonis), which eat the starfish. The sea snails, which can grow to half a meter, were almost hunted to extinction for their shells, and while they’ve been a protected species in Queensland since the 1960s, although they still remain rare.
The Government is spending $568,000 on the initial research and trial over the next two years, with more than 100,000 swimming snail larvae already hatched during the early stages of the project.
Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said if the research is successful, triton snails could be used to disperse the starfish — which appear to “flee” from the predator — and prevent them from breeding.
“This new project builds on the success of Australian Institute of Marine Science research that found crown-of-thorns starfish avoid areas where triton sea snails are present,” Mr Frydenberg said.
AIMS research manager Dr David Souter said the snails were so rare, almost nothing was known about them, including their reproductive biology or life cycle.
“We’re looking at how long they take to grow to maturity and the potential for a breeding program,” he said.
任何最终苏特博士说release of more snails onto the Great Barrier Reef would be done under tightly controlled circumstances to avoid a cane-toad-type situation, in which the solution becomes worse than the original problem.[快递邮件]
