crown-of-thorns starfish

(Newser) - The number of coral-plundering crown of thorns starfish could boom from some 12 million to 60 million over the next four years, the Brisbane Times reports, and for Australia's Great Barrier Reef that would be akin to "a locust plague devastating vegetation," says Glen Holmes, co-author of...

(Newser) - A robot tasked with the unusual job of killing starfish is nearly ready for deployment at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, reports the BBC . The Cotsbot was designed by Queensland University of Technology to eradicate crown-of-thorns starfish, labeled "one of the most significant threats to the Great Barrier Reef"...