text: There are estimated to be about four to 12 million crown of thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef. Photo: ARC Centre of Excellence Coral Reef Studies 
   
   An outbreak of coral-eating starfish on the Great Barrier Reef could become the worst on record, conservationists fear. 
   
   A report commissioned by WWF-Australia says the number of crown of thorns starfish could soar from between four and 12 million to 60 million by 2020. 
   
   "It would be like a locust plague devastating vegetation," Glen Holmes, co-author of The Starfish That Eat The Reef, said. 
   
   The devastating starfish are already believed to be responsible for the loss of around 60,000 hectares of live coral over the past 30 years. 
   
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   While there is nothing that can be done to halt the current outbreak, experts are appealing for tougher measures to prevent future plagues. 
   
   Harmful chemical fertilisers flowing off agricultural farming land and into the reef waters are fuelling the outbreaks by triggering algal blooms which feed the starfish. 
   
   "If we cut catchment pollution we can starve the baby crown of thorns starfish and prevent the next outbreak before it happens," Dr Holmes said. 
   
   "This will give the reef a chance to rebuild its coral cover and grow again." 
   
   Current state and national government investment has failed to achieve even modest targets and more money is needed to reduce pollution, he added. 
   
   If the outbreak follows the patterns of previous plagues then coral cover could be reduced to below 10 per cent, the report said. 
   
   AAP 
   
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target: – The number of coral-plundering crown of thorns starfish could boom from some 12 million to 60 million over the next four years, the Brisbane Times reports, and for Australia's Great Barrier Reef that would be akin to "a locust plague devastating vegetation," says Glen Holmes, co-author of The Starfish That Eat The Reef. This winter, though, an aquatic robot will be deployed to help slow the invasion of the invertebrates … by killing them, Scientific American reports. The COTSbot, developed at the Queensland University of Technology, is a small submarine outfitted with cameras, sonar, GPS, and a syringe-tipped arm. Following a pre-programmed path along the reef, the robot scans for crown of thorns starfish. Once it identifies its target, the COTSbot pumps it full of bile salts that, as Scientific American puts it, "digest the animal from the inside" before it can separate and regenerate (one starfish can produce millions of young). The COTSbot, which can kill more than 200 starfish in eight hours, will augment the efforts of human divers. “It's now so good it even ignores our 3D-printed decoys and targets only live starfish,” one researcher says. It is believed the starfish has destroyed some 230 square miles of live coral in the past three decades, per the Times, which says the outbreak may be linked to starfish-nourishing algal blooms resulting from fertilizer runoff. Overfishing of the starfish's predators may also be to blame, per Scientific American. Check out the COTSbot in action in this video.