• A giant starfish-eating snail could be unleashed to help save the Great Barrier Reef, officials said with a trial under way to breed thousands of the rare species.
• Predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, which munch coral, are naturally-occurring but have proliferated due to pollution and run-off at the struggling World Heritage-listed ecosystem.
• Their impact has been profound with a major study of the 2,300-km long reef’s health in 2012 showing coral cover halved over the past 27 years, with 42% of the damage attributed to the pest.
• Now, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) research has shown they avoid areas where the Pacific triton sea snail – also known as the giant triton – is present.
• The snails, which can grow to half a metre, have a well developed sense of smell and can hunt their prey by scent alone.
• Research showed they were particularly fond of crown-of-thorns, but only eat a few each week, and with the snail almost hunted to extinction for their shells, there are not many left.
• This led the government to announce funding to research breeding them. 
• The possibilities the triton breeding project opens up are exciting.
• If successful, this research will allow scientists to closely look at the impact of giant tritons on crown-of-thorns behaviour and test their potential as a management tool to help reduce coral lost to outbreaks.
• Giant tritons held at AIMS have laid numerous egg capsules. But they are so rare, almost nothing is known about their life cycle.

Source:TH