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TAGGING
30. Can the crown-of-thorns starfish be tagged? Scientists attach tags to animals in order to recognise individuals in a population. Few field data are available concerning the growth, longevity (ie. lifespan), rates of mortality and movement of the crown-of-thorns starfish. This is mainly because it is a notoriously difficult animal to tag or mark. Individual starfish need to be able to be identified over long periods of time to allow adequate data on these variables to be collected. Much research effort has gone into testing a variety of different techniques for tagging the crown-oft-horns starfish. These include dyes, brands, harnesses, plastic T-bar tags, spine clipping, cable ties, monofilament nylon looped around arms and the insertion of stainless steel wire through the disc. All these techniques have been unsuccessful in identifying individual starfish over long periods. Natural features such as colouration, number of arms, and position of other external characters have proven unwieldy and impractical for identifying large numbers of starfish. To date, placing caps or tags on spines enables scientists to follow individuals for several days. However, this method is very labour intensive as a close watch is needed to ensure that the tags remain attached to each animal. Frequently a starfish may need to be retagged several times over the course of the field study. Research is presently underway at the Australian Institute of Marine Science to test the feasibility of implanting small electromagnetic devices inside the starfish as a reliable means of tagging individuals.
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