Now let's focus on a specific example of a natural predator that can cause a lot of damage to coral reefs—the Crown of Thorns, or CoT starfish.

The crown of thorns starfish is a coral reef predator that preys on coral polyps.

The crown of thorns starfish is large, twenty-five to thirty-five centimeters in diameter, and has seven to twenty-one arms that are covered in spines.