SHELLING OUT: SNAILS TO FIGHT FOR REEF
GIANT starfish-eating sea snails are being bred in numbers to be unleashed as a biological weapon to save the Great Barrier Reef.
The crown-of-thorns starfish is one of the leading causes of coral loss on the Reef, and up to 150,000 of the pests can spread over just one square kilometre during an outbreak.
Now the Federal Government is funding world-first research into breeding rare giant triton sea snails, a natural predator of the starfish.
The sea snails, which can grow to half a metre in length, were almost hunted to extinction for their shells.
While they’ve been a protected species in Queensland since the 1960s, they remain rare.
The Government is spending $568,000 on the initial research and trial over the next two years, with more than 100,000 swimming snail larvae already hatched during the early stages of the project.
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said if the research was successful, triton sea snails could be used to disperse the starfish – which appear to “flee” from the predator and its secretions – and prevent them from breeding.
“This new project builds on the success of Australian Institute of Marine Science research that found crown-ofthorns starfish avoid areas where triton sea snails are present,” Mr Frydenberg said.
AIMS research manager Dr David Souter said the snails were so rare, almost nothing was known about them, including their reproductive biology or life cycle.
“We’re looking at how long they take to grow to maturity and the potential for a breeding program,” he said.
Any eventual release of more snails on to the Great Barrier Reef would be done under tightly controlled circumstances, Dr Souter said.
This is to avoid another cane-toad-type situation, in which the solution becomes worse than the original problem. A recent report said the reef is worth $56 billion to the economy. They grow up to half a metre in length They are so rare almost nothing is known about their reproduction or life cycle.
They’re named after the Greek god Triton, who was the son of the sea god Poseidon.
They eat crown-of-thorns starfish and their presence causes the pest to flee.