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Acanthaster
	Acanthaster planci
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Asteroidea
Order:	Valvatida
Family:	Acanthasteridae
Genus:	Acanthaster; Gervais, 1841
Species
	2, See text.
Synonyms
	Echinaster Gray, 1840 ; Echinities Müller & Troschel, 1844 ;

Acanthaster is a bitypic genus of large and venomous starfish placed in its own family, Acanthasteridae. Its two members are known as crown-of-thorns starfish. Acanthaster are native to coral reefs in Indo-Pacific region.^[2]

The species in this genus are a contributor to coral reef degradation because they prey on a large amount of live coral at high density.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Species

These species are listed in the World Register of Marine Species:^[1]

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Acanthaster brevispinus Fisher, 1917	western Pacific Ocean, southeast Asia
	Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758)	Indo-Pacific

Some sources add Acanthaster ellisi, (Gray, 1840) but it is now considered as a subspecies of A. planci in the eastern Pacific.^[5]

Recent molecular work has suggested that Acanthaster planci is a species complex of up to 4 different species that have yet to be separately described (Vogler et al., 2008).

Haszprunar, Vogler & Wörheide (2017)^[6] suggest to split "A. planci" in :

Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758) -- Northern Indian Ocean, always purple-blue and red
Acanthaster mauritiensis de Loriol, 1885 -- Souther Indian Ocean
Acanthaster solaris (Schreber, 1795) -- Pacific Ocean (max. 23 arms)
Acanthaster benziei Wörheide, Kaltenbacher, Cowan & Haszprunar, 2022^[7]—Red Sea (max. 14 arms).

Acanthaster planci stricto sensu (Thailand).
Acanthaster brevispinus (Australia).
Lab hybrid of A. planci and A. brevispinus^[8]
Acanthaster planci "ellisi" from the Gulf of California.
Acanthaster planci "solaris" from Fidji.
Acanthaster planci "mauritiensis" from La Réunion.
Acanthaster benziei from Red Sea.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mah, C. (2012). Acanthaster Gervais, 1841. In: Mah, C.L. (2012). World Asteroidea database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205212 on 2012-03-23
^ ^a ^b Pratchett, Morgan S.; Cumming, Graeme S. (October 2019). "Managing cross-scale dynamics in marine conservation: Pest irruptions and lessons from culling of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp.)". Biological Conservation. 238: 108211. Bibcode:2019BCons.23808211P. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108211. ISSN 0006-3207. S2CID 202015281.
^ Uthicke, Sven; Fisher, Eric E.; Patel, Frances; Diaz-Guijarro, Beatriz; Doyle, Jason R.; Messmer, Vanessa; Pratchett, Morgan S. (2019-09-30). "Spawning time of Acanthaster cf. solaris on the Great Barrier Reef inferred using qPCR quantification of embryos and larvae: do they know it's Christmas?". Marine Biology. 166 (10): 133. Bibcode:2019MarBi.166..133U. doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3582-5. ISSN 0025-3162.
^ Gilmour, James P.; Cook, Kylie L.; Ryan, Nicole M.; Puotinen, Marjetta L.; Green, Rebecca H.; Shedrawi, George; Hobbs, Jean-Paul A.; Thomson, Damian P.; Babcock, Russell C.; Buckee, Joanna; Foster, Taryn (2019-08-01). "The state of Western Australia's coral reefs". Coral Reefs. 38 (4): 651–667. Bibcode:2019CorRe..38..651G. doi:10.1007/s00338-019-01795-8. ISSN 1432-0975. S2CID 102484339.
^ "Acanthaster ellisi". The World Asteroidea Database. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
^ Haszprunar, Gerhard; Vogler, Catherine; Wörheide, Gert (2017). "Persistent Gaps of Knowledge for Naming and Distinguishing Multiple Species of Crown-of-Thorns-Seastar in the Acanthaster planci Species Complex". Diversity. 9 (2): 22. doi:10.3390/d9020022.
^ Gert Wörheide, Emilie Kaltenbacher, Zara-Louise Cowan et Gerhard Haszprunar, « A new species of crown-of-thorns sea star, Acanthaster benziei sp. nov. (Valvatida: Acanthasteridae), from the Red Sea », Zootaxa, 2022
^ Lucas, J.S. (1976). "Hybrid crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci X A. brevispinus) reared to maturity in the laboratory". Nature. 263 (5576): 409–412 & cover. Bibcode:1976Natur.263..409L. doi:10.1038/263409a0. PMID 972678. S2CID 4218030.