ABSTRACT
This study of the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci in New Caledonia enables us to compare its biological parameters with those from different areas in the Indopacific. Acanthaster has been observed in about fifty locations on the Grande Terre and Loyalty Islands. The density of populations was usually below 0.5 per 100 m2. However a few locations with higher densities were found which should be monitored. A monthly sampling of the population was conducted for fifteen months at Maitre Islet, the station with the highest density (3.3 per 100 m2). Morphometric relationships and the reproductive cycle were defined. Breeding occurred during the warm season, from November to February. The allometric growth of the gonads showed that the 40 cm diameter specimens may have up to sixty times more oocytes than 25 cm diameter ones and can produce up to sixty million oocytes per spawning season.
