Coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish can be killed with vinegar, scientists find

James Cook University researchers have discovered that household vinegar has a 100% kill rate for starfish that prey on coral on the Great Barrier Reef

A plague of coral-eating starfish that have caused alarm over their seemingly unstoppable attack on the Great Barrier Reef can be killed off with a simple dose of household vinegar, scientists have discovered.

Crown-of-thorns starfish are considered to be one of the two leading causes, along with cyclones, of a dramatic loss in coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef over the past 30 years.