In the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers reveals the culprit behind sea star wasting disease, a marine epidemic that has decimated sea star populations along the west coast of ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. While they have no backbone, sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia ...

A healthy sunflower sea star is seen on the seafloor in 2014. (Photo by Ed Gullekson/Washington Department of Fish and WIldlife, provided by NOAA Fisheries) One of the world’s largest sea stars is on ...

In Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers reveal the cause of sea star wasting disease (SSWD). This discovery comes more than a decade after the start of the marine epidemic that has ...

Identifying a pathogen responsible for wasting brings hope for P. helianthoides, says Ian Hewson, a marine ecologist at Cornell University. The study may be good news for rearing sunflower sea stars ...

If you liked this story, share it with other people. Since 2013, sea star wasting disease, worsened by warming oceans, has wiped out 99% of sunflower sea stars from Washington state to Mexico, ...

A mysterious illness has killed billions of sea stars in the past decade. After a four-year search, scientists have uncovered the culprit: a bacterium known as Vibrio pectenicida. The team reported ...

Their disappearance, combined with a massive marine heat wave called “the blob,” set off a cascade of catastrophic ecological changes that turned these kelp biodiverse hot spots into vast sea urchin ...

Finding a cause for sea star wasting disease has been a goal for scientists, in part because the animals are a keystone species. A large community of researchers has been waiting for this news.

After years of scientific sleuthing, a team of West Coast researchers reported that they have identified a particular strain of ocean bacteria that has killed more than 6 billion sea stars since 2013.

Rebecca Vega Thurber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations ...