Deadly Deceit

Mysteriously

inviting— that’s what the Sarangani’s bay view appears over the surface of the calm tides. “Delve deeper; swim and swim until your eyes burn in the salty seas,” words that lure when the waves crash. Before the eyes of the curious divers who thirst to take peeks on the dauntless haven of the coral polyps– the grave carpenters of the grandiose coral reefs– lies a harmonious relation of diverse lives in the sea. But in its blue depths, only those who dare to swim unrestrained can tell that there’s a piercing peril so deceitful and active.

The Crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), ever since 1962, has been imposing great threats to the balance of marine life. It is a large species of starfish from the phylum Echinodermata, making it an invertebrate marine animal that’s morphologically designed with a bizarre spiny body. At first glance, although the spikes surrounding it ignite horror to those who see it, the red vibrant color it embodies complimenting the hues of the water makes it astonishing to look at as it slowly moves in the unique structures of the bay’s corals. And that’s more than enough for it to be a deadly deceit. In the few diving escapades, not even a single plunge in the bay did a diver from Alabel National Science High School–Krisha Lumayag– ever felt not urged to efface these invasive species who keeps away the welfare of the corals. With the every dive in Glan and Maasim, she could come across about approximately three to five COTs. And so, to ameliorate this alarming issue in her favorite sanctum– the ocean –she partook in the collection of Crown-of-thorns (COTs) initiated by the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape—Protected Area Management Board (SBSS-PAMB). Which for riddance, according to her, “We dispose them properly by burying them in the sand.”

Every thorn that nibbled the corners of the reefs with their evilest venom motivated her to act swiftly and precisely with every movement. “When collecting them, you have to be very fast and careful because when they are in distress, they release hundreds of eggs. And when you touch the COTs, your finger will swell for a lot of days or months,” she said, driven from her numerous experiences of congregating them, together with the team. Despite the possibility of a harmed return in the shore, she refuses to halt in the pursuit of passion within the brine. “I love diving because I can share with my community the magnificence of what’s below the sea surface. And above all else, I like to promote the protection and preservation of marine life and its ecosystems.”

The COTs found a throne in the deepness of the Sarangani Bay, but a catastrophic one that must be desolated. To preserve the well-favored seascape, there’s no other option for the COTs fate but to exterminate it. Because when the divers explore the ocean, swimming unknowingly towards the dangerous starfish will always be a deadly deceit that will doom anyone and everything as long as their piercing thorns remain, lest they are eradicated.