Beautiful starfish picture.
- Thread starter grimreefer
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thejdshow
Member
is it normal for a sand sifter to bury itself in the sand when first introduced to a new tank. I know the speel on sand sifters, and how they eat benificial critters, but lets see how he does before we deem him for failure. Just wondering if that was a normal behavior though for him to bury himself into the sand when first introduced to the tank. Thanks alot!
ophiura
Active Member
Originally posted by saltn00b
have you guys heard about the Crown of Thorns Starfish?
Edit: foul language not allowed!
i was almost brought to tears watching them eat the eat the GB reef alive.
They are a normal, natural and equally VITAL part of the ecosystem. HUMANS have, however, overhunted their primary predator for its shell, in addition to taking many stars and cutting them up (making more stars).
ophiura
Active Member
It is surprising how vital things are when we don't have them anymore. That is when we really understand these sorts of things.
They are part of a normal, healthy coral reef ecosystem in the Pacific, and this makes them vital. They do eat corals, and thus make open areas for settlement of other coral larvae, aiding in diversity. In and of themselves, they do nothing "wrong."
They are overpopulated, pretty much due to various poorly understood (but potentially natural environmental changes or man made impacts), and primarily over harvesting of their primary predator for the shell trade. Hope they look good on someone's shelf.
But I assure you, were they to destroy them all, they would probably realize how vital they are. We know how vital the long spine urchin Diadema is to the Caribbean reefs now, because they were wiped out probably due to disease. They are recovering, but in their absence, much of the reef became dominated by algae and fast growing corals. We can look back through the fossil reef and see this has occured in the past as well...kind of an alternate stable state of the ecosystem.
We don't realize the impact of many animals until we're gone. Failing to appreciate the fact that we live on a very short scale but can impact much larger time scales is very risky, IMO.
They are part of a normal, healthy coral reef ecosystem in the Pacific, and this makes them vital. They do eat corals, and thus make open areas for settlement of other coral larvae, aiding in diversity. In and of themselves, they do nothing "wrong."
They are overpopulated, pretty much due to various poorly understood (but potentially natural environmental changes or man made impacts), and primarily over harvesting of their primary predator for the shell trade. Hope they look good on someone's shelf.
But I assure you, were they to destroy them all, they would probably realize how vital they are. We know how vital the long spine urchin Diadema is to the Caribbean reefs now, because they were wiped out probably due to disease. They are recovering, but in their absence, much of the reef became dominated by algae and fast growing corals. We can look back through the fossil reef and see this has occured in the past as well...kind of an alternate stable state of the ecosystem.
We don't realize the impact of many animals until we're gone. Failing to appreciate the fact that we live on a very short scale but can impact much larger time scales is very risky, IMO.
fishybiz
Member
this is true. but the overwhelming numbers that are occurring now are causing MUCH more harm than good. I understand the HOW of they're overwhelming numbers but if something isn't done to get rid of a very large majority of them they'll eat the entire Barrier Reef. Not in our lifetime, well, not mine anyway, but eventually.
nikolai
Member
Originally posted by ophiura
They are a normal, natural and equally VITAL part of the ecosystem. HUMANS have, however, overhunted their primary predator for its shell, in addition to taking many stars and cutting them up (making more stars).
Those stars are NOT vital! They are killing the coral for NO reason! When I was at the GBR a couple years ago, there were many of those HORRIBLE starfish. Humans are part of the problem, but those starfish need to be eradicated.
saltn00b
Active Member
yes triton snails and turtles have been hunted been even they could not control the numbers that they deal with down under. aparantly water around the GBR is nutritionally void. it is like being in a dessert, its nothing but water for the most part. but in the last 60 years, there have been advances in farming industry and the addition of farmland in north australia.
where does all the cow poop go? :notsure:
the cow waste and fertilizer has no where to go but into the river and into the ocean, ultimately. this causes brackish run off visible for miles that is filled with phosphorous, nitrates and all that good stuff that swamps the reef with these nutrients that make growing conditions for this star very nice.
Ophiura is right in that they are beneficial, but of course in very low numbers. they normally have a bloom cycle of about 2-300 years which will kill off some of the fast growing coral and make room for slower growing corals to grow like brains. unfortunately these factors have led to overlapping cycles non stop for the last 60 years, giving the GBR no time to recover.
Damn the farmers i say!
:nervous:
where does all the cow poop go? :notsure:
the cow waste and fertilizer has no where to go but into the river and into the ocean, ultimately. this causes brackish run off visible for miles that is filled with phosphorous, nitrates and all that good stuff that swamps the reef with these nutrients that make growing conditions for this star very nice.
Ophiura is right in that they are beneficial, but of course in very low numbers. they normally have a bloom cycle of about 2-300 years which will kill off some of the fast growing coral and make room for slower growing corals to grow like brains. unfortunately these factors have led to overlapping cycles non stop for the last 60 years, giving the GBR no time to recover.
Damn the farmers i say!
:nervous:
ophiura
Active Member
Overpopulation is a problem, but so would be erradicating them. They are a natural and normal animal of the reef, and the reef needs balance. Control measures for the population may very well be necessary, along with limitations on removal of natural predators. Removal of any one animal can have impacts (as can be argued for the increased population due to removal of the triton trumpet snail - a predator of the crown of thorns star). But these stars are not doing anything wrong, they are not "planning" some destruction of the reef as people seem to imply. They are just living.
As for killing the coral for no reason? This is applying human emotion to a situation. They are eating. This is what they do. I could make the SAME statement about human impacts on rainforests and many other ecosystems. Should we be erradicated too?
As for killing the coral for no reason? This is applying human emotion to a situation. They are eating. This is what they do. I could make the SAME statement about human impacts on rainforests and many other ecosystems. Should we be erradicated too?