Covered with long, venomous spikes, the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is a voracious feeder that can eat living corals because of a unique adaptation: a wax-digesting enzyme system.

Staghorn corals are also vulnerable to certain predators, like the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), which have proliferated since the 1970s. In large numbers, crown-of-thorns ...