What is this bad boy doing?

[howard4113]

Went yakin' with kidspot today. Pretty nice dive. At about 45' we found this bad hombre munching on the scenery.

So I took a couple of snaps. My close-up mask inserts are a little out of wack today so I missed seeing some things happening here. But when I opened the pix on the computer I was some new things. If you look carefully at this pic, you'll see some milky tubules protruding from the upper skin of the beast.

In this pic, it looks like something is being ejected from the tip of the thorns:

Any ideas what this guy is doing?



I know what this guy is doing:

M

 

[ch0ppersrule]

maybe that is poop from it eating the coral??

 

[ladycute1]

Perhaps the 'wild thang'?

 

[VBlueV]

i think it's preparing to put the bite on jimbo's hand to make it swell up like a pumpkin =/

i've heard these are the reason many of the coral beds look dead.. killed by hords of the "crown-of-thorns"

some folks even go as far as "moving" them off the reef ["... but don't cut 'em up, 'cuz each piece can regenerate into a whole new one..."]

but, back on topic, maybe lady's on the right track.. the discovery channel "thang" =)

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

Hey cool picture anyway.
Are Crown of Thorns native to Hawaii?

 

[mrjimboalaska]

i think it's preparing to put the bite on jimbo's hand to make it swell up like a pumpkin =/

NOT FUNNY BLUE......

I know of at least one person who is not going to bring them back to my boat.....
1 overnight stay in the hospital and lots of drugs, no fun. BUT, my index finger is working again and theumb will somewhat move.
The crown if thorns need to be removed and thrown in the trash, yes, but haul them in a game bag and put them in a bucket.....I don't know what ______for brains was thinkin.......

 

[kidspot]

That was a fun dive Mark -

So what is the best way to pick them up (If you were going to throw them in the trash later)? are gloves enough to protect against them? Anyway to kill them underwater easily?

I wouldn't say there are "hordes" of them, but they are quite common.

and no they are not native here.

Aloha, Tim

 

[LioKai]

First do no harm.
The crown of thorns is not a pest in Hawaii.

1) Crown of thorns (COT) is not an introduced species to Hawaii. They feed on fast growth corals same as the Parrotfish and most butterflyfish. COT feed on the fast growth corals and create a "host" for the slower growth corals. The only area of problem that has ever occured in Hawaii was an isolated area off of Molokai in the 1960's caused by fertalizer run off.

2) It is said (although I don't know this for a fact) that handling the COT causes it to broadcast spawn. The only effective way (I was told) to irradicate a population boom is to inject a toxin with a needle, wait until it dies, then remove with a sealed container (closed trash bag).

3) A population boom is when you see several hundred on a patch of reef (10 kick cycles), not 20 or even 30 on an entire dive.

Your best bet is to leave it alone. One small part of one spine in your finger will take weeks if not months to heal. Problems occur when we (all humans) interfere. Removing COT from the reef means removing the food source for the Tritan Trumphant as well as the ability for slower growth host dependant corals to form.

 

[LioKai]

and no they are not native here.

Aloha, Tim

Not true

 

[kidspot]

thanks for correcting me LioKai - I was wrong