What happened to Puget Sound starfish?

What happened to Puget Sound starfish?

Research suggests warmer oceans are killing sea stars in Puget Sound. ‘Wasting syndrome’ has decimated 70-100 percent of sea star populations in certain areas. Recent research conducted at Cornell University might help us understand an illness that has decimated sea star populations for nearly a decade.

Is sea star wasting disease still happening?

The disease, called “sea star wasting syndrome” (SSWS) has persisted at low levels in most areas, and continues to kill sea stars. Similar die-offs occurred in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, but never before at this magnitude and over such a wide geographic area.

What is currently known about sea star wasting disease today?

Since 2013, sea stars from Alaska to Mexico have been dying in droves of a mysterious disease referred to as sea star wasting syndrome. Symptoms typically include the appearance of white lesions followed by tissue decay, body fragmentation and death, often within only a few days.

What are the symptoms of Seastar wasting disease?

Typically the first symptom of sea star wasting disease is refusal to accept food followed by listlessness for weeks and then white lesions that appear on the surface of the starfish and spread rapidly, followed by decay of tissue surrounding the lesions.

Are there starfish in Puget Sound?

Ochre Sea Stars are the most commonly seen member of their group in many Pacific Northwest coastal areas. Virtual swarms of orange and/or purple starfish are exposed at especially low tides, often clustered under shady ledges or in crevices where they won’t get baked by the sun.

How is sea star wasting disease transmitted?

Now, in a new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers have found the mysterious illness was caused by microorganisms sucking up oxygen from the water around infected sea stars, essentially suffocating them.

What causes Seastar wasting disease?

A proximate cause of wasting was likely the “Sea Star associated Densovirus”, but the ultimate factors triggering the epidemic, if any, remain unclear. Although warm temperature has been proposed as a possible trigger, Sea Star Wasting Disease in Oregon populations increased with cool temperatures.

Are starfish endangered 2020?

In August 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the sunflower sea star to its Red List, classifying the species as critically endangered.

Are sea stars making a comeback?

As some sea star populations make a comeback, scientists may have found cause of ‘wasting disease’ Along the West Coast, there are signs that sea stars are recovering from what’s known as a wasting disease epidemic that began around 2013.

How do sea stars avoid desiccation?

They can curl in their feet and slow down the drying-out process for a while, but they need to stay near water. That’s okay because their prey are in water anyway.

What eats the ochre sea star?

The only predators of these starfish seem to be Sea Otters and gulls. Glaucous-winged Gulls stalk the intertidal and pick up small individuals (up to a radius of 6 cm) with great enthusiasm. Otters can crunch them up at any size. Ochre Sea Stars can breed at the age of five, and they spawn during the summer.