Do crown-of-thorns starfish prefer to feed on particular types of corals?
It would appear that crown-of-thorns starfish generally prefer to feed on staghorn and plate corals (the majority of these are of the genus Acropora) which are relatively fast growing. They seem to least prefer feeding on large, hemispherical (termed massive) corals (such as the coral Porites) (see Fig. 11 ) and certain types of branching colonies which contain small crabs and shrimps (termed commensals) that defend the coral from predators. Sometimes these are the only adult colonies that survive outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish. During large outbreaks even these corals may be killed.
