Crown of Thorns

© Chad Clark 27-12-99

They came from the deep, a relentless army of genetically mutated starfish on downers. No we’re not talking Italian tourists here, we’re talking Crown of Thorns. Akin to sub-aquatic versions of Dracula, they sleep all day under rocks and coral, then pounce on the unsuspecting reef when darkness falls and suck out its lifeblood.

As if we haven’t enough to contend with already, what with the manic construction along the coast and the hordes of ill trained badly supervised divers, we’ve now got a natural disaster on our hands as well. Well, it’s sort of natural. They used to have a predator in the form of Triton Shells, but unfortunately these have all been fished out of the water to pander to the needs of smokers with a desire for a funky ashtray. Despite sterling efforts by bands of volunteer diveguides and generous boatowners they continue to come and eat up our reef. For the last 6 months whilst we’ve been diving day and night fishing these 8 legged vampires out of the sea, the people in high places have expressed their concern, held some talks and done………………

 

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