Acanthaster

Acanthaster (from Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha), meaning "spine, thorn", and ἀστήρ (astḗr), meaning "star", and thus, "spine star/thorn star"^[2]) is a bitypic genus of large and venomous starfish placed in the monotypic family, Acanthasteridae. Its two members are known as crown-of-thorns starfish. Acanthaster are native to coral reefs in Indo-Pacific region.^[3]

Acanthaster
Acanthaster mauritiensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Asteroidea
Order:	Valvatida
Family:	Acanthasteridae
Genus:	Acanthaster Gervais, 1841[1]
Species
2, See text.
Synonyms[1]
Echinaster Gray, 1840 Echinities Müller & Troschel, 1844

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.^[3][4][5]

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) in the eastern Pacific, but it is now considered as a subspecies of A. planci.^[6]

Haszprunar, Vogler & Wörheide (2017)^[7] 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^[8]—Red Sea (max. 14 arms).

• 
  Acanthaster planci stricto sensu (Thailand).
• 
  Acanthaster brevispinus (Australia).
• 
  Lab hybrid of A. planci and A. brevispinus^[9]
• 
  Acanthaster planci "ellisi" from the Gulf of California.
• 
  Acanthaster planci "solaris" from Fidji.
• 
  Acanthaster planci "mauritiensis" from Baja California.
• 
  Acanthaster benziei from Red Sea.