Crown-of-Thorns Starfish outbreak - Before After on reef
![](https://eatlas.org.au/sites/default/files/styles/m_very_large/public/eatlas/articles/cots_before_after.jpg?itok=FAI67Ubc)
Description
Crown-of-thorns outbreaks have a devastating effect on coral cover. Here is a picture of a reef before a COTS outbreak (left) and after (right). Once the coral has been eaten it rapidly becomes covered in algae and starts to break down.
Image produced for the project