mudchick
Contributor
The discussion of COT seemed off point to the knife thread where it started (yes, it was I) so I thought I'd do some googling and see what else I could find on these little boogers.
From http://www.reef.crc.org.au/publications/explore/feat45.html#t5-2
CRC Reef Research Centre - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
I didn't want to post the entire page here for reasons of space but clearly cutting them up is not the preferred method in light of the increased possibility of envenomation which can be pretty nasty. But according to this page if you cut them up enough they don't die but don't apparently regenerate either. Poisoning or removal are the best methods.
"Cutting Up
Cutting starfish into a number of pieces was one of the first methods tried, however its use was stopped because of concerns that the pieces would regenerate creating an even bigger problem. Some starfish (like the blue starfish Linckia) do regenerate entire bodies from substantial pieces but the survival of A. planci after having been cut into separate quarters in the field appears to be very low. Tests of the effectiveness of this method were conducted by GBRMPA staff. When starfish were cut into quarters or their central disk was removed, most of the pieces were still alive after 2 weeks. We don't know if these remains would have regenerated but it seems unlikely.
The biggest problem with this method is that the starfish have to be extracted from the coral to be treated. This will usually damage the corals as the starfish can be entwined securely around branching forms. The risk of a diver being spiked is quite high (see section on First Aid). Because poisons are not involved the method has the advantage of being environmentally 'friendly' (as long as coral is not damaged in extracting the starfish) and special equipment is not needed.
Trials conducted by GBRMPA showed that this method is 10 times slower than injecting poison and the diver doing the cutting up was spiked 3 times during the treatment of 20 starfish."
From http://www.reef.crc.org.au/publications/explore/feat45.html#t5-2
CRC Reef Research Centre - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
I didn't want to post the entire page here for reasons of space but clearly cutting them up is not the preferred method in light of the increased possibility of envenomation which can be pretty nasty. But according to this page if you cut them up enough they don't die but don't apparently regenerate either. Poisoning or removal are the best methods.
"Cutting Up
Cutting starfish into a number of pieces was one of the first methods tried, however its use was stopped because of concerns that the pieces would regenerate creating an even bigger problem. Some starfish (like the blue starfish Linckia) do regenerate entire bodies from substantial pieces but the survival of A. planci after having been cut into separate quarters in the field appears to be very low. Tests of the effectiveness of this method were conducted by GBRMPA staff. When starfish were cut into quarters or their central disk was removed, most of the pieces were still alive after 2 weeks. We don't know if these remains would have regenerated but it seems unlikely.
The biggest problem with this method is that the starfish have to be extracted from the coral to be treated. This will usually damage the corals as the starfish can be entwined securely around branching forms. The risk of a diver being spiked is quite high (see section on First Aid). Because poisons are not involved the method has the advantage of being environmentally 'friendly' (as long as coral is not damaged in extracting the starfish) and special equipment is not needed.
Trials conducted by GBRMPA showed that this method is 10 times slower than injecting poison and the diver doing the cutting up was spiked 3 times during the treatment of 20 starfish."
