Crown-of-thorns starfish occurs where coral reefs or hard coral communities occur in this region. The body form of the crown-of-thorns starfish is fundamentally the same as that of a typical starfish, with a central disk and radiating arms. Its special traits, however, include being disc-shaped, multiple-armed, flexible, prehensile, and heavily spined, and having a large ratio of stomach surface to body mass. Its prehensile ability arises from the two rows of numerous tube feet that extend to the tip of each arm. In being multiple-armed, it has lost the five-fold symmetry (pentamerism) typical of starfish, although it begins its life cycle with
Asexual reproduction in starfish generate new individuals in this way. He thought the arms might be shed by autotomy. In the same year, Monks showed experimentally that the "comets" developing from the severed arms of "Linckia columbiae" could indeed grow into new individuals. "Linckia multifora" and "Linckia guildingi" are two species of starfish found on Hawaii which were found to exhibit autotomy, shedding one or more arms frequently. The arms are known as "comets" and can move about independently and each one can grow into a new individual. Though severed from the nervous system and the water vascular system they still exhibit normal behaviour