US EditionMystery Solved: Scientists Pinpoint Bacteria Behind Sea Star Die-Off on West Coast
PACIFIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, AUG 6 – Researchers identified Vibrio pectenicida as the cause of sea star wasting disease, which killed over 5 billion sea stars and led to a 90% decline in sunflower sea star populations, scientists said.
- Identifying Vibrio pectenicida as the cause, the team published on Monday that it likely caused mass sunflower sea star deaths along the western coast of North America.
- Decades of decline began as infections spread from Sitka, Alaska, through British Columbia to Mexico, with sea star wasting disease identified as the likely cause over the past 12 years.
- Infected sea stars became lethargic, developed lesions, lost arms and disintegrated within days, leading sea urchins to eat 95 per cent of northern California kelp forests.
- Researchers believe the discovery could be key to saving sea stars and restoring marine ecosystems, opening the door to future ecosystem recovery efforts.
- As restoration efforts continue, scientists plan to reintroduce sunflower sea stars along the Pacific coast while monitoring disease prevalence.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Billions of starfish deaths traced back to bacterial culprit in largest marine epidemic
Sea star wasting disease has devastated starfish populations in North America, driving some species to the brink of extinction. New research has identified Vibrio pectenicida bacteria as the cause of the disease, offering hope that the epidemic might be overcome.
5 Billion Sea Stars Have Shattered and Died Over the Past 10 Years, Scientists May Finally Know Why
A team of international researchers discovered the cause of a sea-star wasting diseaseBennett Whitnell/Hakai Institute; Grant Callegari/Hakai Institute Left: healthy sunflower sea star Right: dead sunflower sea starNEED TO KNOWThe cause of a sea star-wasting disease was determined to be a bacterium known as Vibrio pectenicidaThe disease causes sea stars to disintegrate to death in a white, goo-like substanceAn estimated 95% of sunflower sea star…
Mystery of why sea stars keep turning into goo finally solved — and it's not what scientists thought
A new study has found that the devastating sea star wasting disease is caused by a strain of bacteria from Vibrio pectenicida, which turns the marine creatures into goo.
‘The discovery of the decade’: Researchers have found the culprit behind sea star wasting disease - Alaska Native News
Sunflower sea stars are the largest sea stars in the world: They have up to 24 arms and grow to the size of a bicycle tire. Starting in 2013, these creatures and other sea star species along the west coast of North America died in epidemic proportions. The stars had harrowing symptoms: Their arms contorted […] The post ‘The discovery of the decade’: Researchers have found the culprit behind sea star wasting disease appeared first on Alaska Nativ…
More than 10 years after the outbreak of the so-called ‘sea star wear disease’ (SSWD), which affected more than 20 species of echinoderms from Mexico to Alaska, the causative agent of this massacre had not yet been identified. SSWD killed billions of the most susceptible species, the sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoids), initiating a nefarious trophic cascade involving uncontrolled growth of the urchin population and the widespread loss…
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