Out of Control.

The reddish-brown crown-of-thorns starfish is one of the largest starfish in the world. It can have up to twenty-one arms, each covered with poisonous spikes. Contact with these spikes is very painful and can temporarily paralyze a swimmer. Starfish are among the most famous and dramatic examples of being able to grow an entire new body from just a single arm.

Though native to Australia, over the past several decades its numbers have increased rapidly, destroying huge amounts of barrier reefs that surround and protect islands in the south pacific – notably the Great Barrier Reef in our own country. They eat up to 10 square metres of coral a year and, with long needle-sharp spines covering their body, they’ve got built-in protection from predators. They’re also super-spawners: millions of eggs are produced each season and they have one of the most successful fertilisation rates of any marine creature. Among the proposed causes of its spread is the decreasing numbers of the giant triton snail, that has a large trumpet shaped shell that is largely sought by collectors. The triton is one of the starfish’s few natural enemies and it may be that the delicate balance dependent on these two animals has been upset. The loss of too many tritons results in a dangerous increase in the number of the crown-of-thorns.

Another issue is agricultural run-off from the land that creates algal blooms that provide more food for crown-of-thorns larvae, contributing to population growth. Warmer waters due to climate change can lead to longer breeding seasons and faster larval development.

The crown-of-thorns starfish can single handedly destroy a coral atoll, an island that consists of a ring of coral surrounding a lagoon, that took thousands of years to form. Such a reef cannot regain its life soon enough to stop the waves from completing its destruction. When a barrier reef is destroyed, giant waves soon roll onto the formerly calm beaches and lagoons, eroding them to the point where they are uninhabitable.

It is a characteristic of sin that unless it is decidedly overcome it will grow in your life, and in its growing will destroy good qualities. The indulgence of sin and weaknesses by men and women results at last in the overshadowing of every good quality and ends finally in eternal loss. No one is without danger. Unless, with the help of the Holy Spirit and Jesus in our lives, we cultivate our good characteristics they will diminish like the triton shell, and sin, like the crown-of-thorns, will multiply. The result is sin, as it grows, will destroy our characters as the starfish is destroying the coral reefs of the South Pacific.