[Coral-List] Great Barrier Reef is rapidly losing coral

[Eugene Shinn]

Thanks David for a thoughtful posting re GBR COTS outbreaks  I don't 
recall the COTS spines as much as I remember the sand sized grains 
that are the individual components that make up the starfish tests. 
The were the major component of the surficial reef sand at that time 
(1972).  I agree pleased that  such events have happened in the past 
and that we will probably never isolate a single cause. Such 
outbreaks are likely as complicated as  Snowshoe rabbits or Lemming 
population explosions or the various factors that lead to the 
occasional mosquito or lovebug outbreaks here in south Florida. I 
suspect readers can envision other such biological outbreaks.  Gene
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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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