Naturalist: The decline of coral reefs has various causes. One contributing factor is predation on coral by organisms such as the crown-of-thorns sea star, whose preferred food source is coral polyps. Human fishing practices have decreased the sea star’s predators, such as the harlequin shrimp. It is also possible that runoff containing nutrients for phytoplankton has resulted in larger phytoplankton blooms: the crown-of-thorns sea star gladly eats phytoplankton.