Abstract
THE coral predators Acanthaster planci L. and A. ellisii (Gray) have been the subject of many publications in recent years. But there is another little known Acanthaster species, A. brevispinus Fisher, which was described from two specimens dredged in the Sulu Archipelago, Philippine Islands1. The species has been reported from the Great Barrier Reef region, Queensland2,3 and specimens have been collected recently off Townsville, North Queensland, from sandy substrates and not on coral reef. Although A. brevispinus differs conspicuously from the other species in having very short and numerous spines on the aboral disk surface, Madsen4 and Caso5 were dubious of its status in their reviews of the genus Acanthaster Gervais. Phenotypic variation of A. planci was suggested in verbal discussion among Australian biologists. We describe here a resolution of the status of A. brevispinus by in vitro crosses with A. planci which led to the rearing of hybrid starfish.
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LUCAS, J., JONES, M. Hybrid crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci x A. brevispinus) reared to maturity in the laboratory. Nature 263, 409–412 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263409a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/263409a0
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