Crown-of-thorns starfish substrates with their arms and, when offered a choice of substrates, tend to settle on coralline algae, which they will subsequently feed on. In the classic pattern for echinoderms, the bilaterally symmetrical larva is replaced by a pentamerously symmetrical stage at metamorphosis, with the latter's body axis bearing no relationship to that of the larva. Thus the newly metamorphosed starfish are five-armed and are 0.4–1 mm diameter. (Note the size of the tube feet relative to the size of the animal.) They feed on the thin coating layers of hard encrusting algae (coralline algae) on the undersides of dead coral
Starfish Country Home School Foundation since become an independent Thai foundation. In May 2008, the Starfish Country Home School Foundation opened the Starfish Home Chiangrai. The Starfish Country Home School Foundation built a new residence for the Starfish Home Chiangrai that opened in May 2010. In May 2016 there were 31 hill tribe girls living at that site. An Akha woman lawyer in Starfish Home Chiangrai provides free legal aid for hill tribe people. Most of the resident children at the two Starfish Homes come from broken families with no father and often no mother present. About 20% of the residents have one or both