Check List 13(3): e19714, doi: 10.15560/13.3.2112
Filling the gaps: first record of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish, Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758) (Spinulosida: Acanthasteridae), at Gorgona Island, Colombia, Tropical Eastern Pacific
expand article infoFernando A. Zapata‡, María del Mar Palacios§, Valentina Zambrano‡, Melina Rodríguez-Moreno|
‡ Coral Reef Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle, Apartado Aéreo 25360, Cali, Colombia, Colombia§ ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, QLD, Australia Coral Reef Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle, Apartado Aéreo 25360, Cali, Colombia, Australia| Coral Reef Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle, Apartado Aéreo 25360, Cali, Colombia Fundación Ecomares, Calle 39N # 3CN-89. Cali, Colombia, Colombia

Corresponding author: María Palacios ( maria.palaciosotero@my.jcu.edu.au )

© 2017 Fernando Zapata, María Palacios, Valentina Zambrano, Melina Rodríguez-Moreno.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Palacios M, Zapata F, Zambrano V, Rodríguez-Moreno M (2017) Filling the gaps: first record of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish, Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758) (Spinulosida: Acanthasteridae), at Gorgona Island, Colombia, Tropical Eastern Pacific. Check List 13(3): 2112. https://doi.org/10.15560/13.3.2112
Open Access
Abstract
We report the occurrence of a major corallivore, the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Acanthaster planci, on the coral reefs of Gorgona Island, Tropical Eastern Pacific. Three individuals were sighted on opposite sides of the island, where they fed on small coral colonies of Pavona varians and Pocillopora damicornis. These sightings are noteworthy in light of reports that have demonstrated that the geographic distribution of A. planci is gradually increasing in the equatorial eastern Pacific, particularly south of the Gulf of Chiriquí (Panama) where it was previously absent.
Keywords
coral reefs; corallivores; echinoderms; range extension; starfish