This is a deep-sea invertebrate called a basket star, also known as a Shetland Argus. It is part of the brittle stars’ taxon, a group of echinoderms closely related to starfish. It has a mass of tangled branched arms, which can grow up to a meter long. Each branch has tiny hooks to capture prey. It feasts mainly on zooplankton, usually feeding at night and resting during the day. If an arm is broken or cut off, these extraordinary stars are able to regenerate their limbs and can live for up to 3

A new Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak is happening off the coast of Cairns and our Chief Scientist Roger Beeden explains why. The Reef Authority runs the Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) Control Program, where vessels of trained divers are deployed to key reefs across the Great Barrier Reef to help tackle outbreaks. COTS control is the most targetable and effective way humans can protect the Reef. Since 2012, the COTS control program has protected over 830,000 hectares of coral reef habitat spa