It may be named after a symbol of the ultimate martyrdom, but the crown-of-thorns starfish has become the villain of tropical seas. Grotesquely bedecked with sharp and spiky poisonous prickles,
At this point you may well say: so what? Here's a natural predator doing what it does best. It's a natural cycle: as the population of the crown-of-thorns rises, reefs die. And when the starfish population drops, the reefs grow again. Naturally.
But some wonder about just ...
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