Chemical constituent analysis of the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci and potential utilization value of the starfish as feed ingredient for animals

The crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci is a major management issue on coral reefs and the exploring of effective control methods to the starfish is an interesting goal. In this study, the chemical constituent of the starfish were analyzed and the toxicity of the starfish was tested when it was used as mice diet. The results showed that protein content of the starfish was 19.8 to 22.0% of dry weight and the amino acid composition was similar to that of fish meal. Though the starfish had little fatty acids (<1%), the fatty acids contained rich variety and unsaturated fatty acids on average accounted for more than 60% of total fatty acids. In addition, per gram (dry weight) of the starfish contained 65.4 to 97.4 μg astaxanthin, which was higher than that of shrimps. The starfish used as the feed for mice did not have negative influence on the growth and the health of the mice. Based on these results, we consider that the crown-of-thorns starfish A. planci has the potential to be an ingredient for animal feeds, thus reducing the usage of fish meal, fish oil and carotenoids. Hence, a method for resource utilization and control of A. planci was suggested.Key words: Chemical constituents, Acanthaster planci, astaxanthin, resource utilization, feed ingredient