All articles tagged with #wasting disease
Ochre sea stars along the Oregon coast are recovering after a decade of decline caused by a mysterious wasting disease, with recent studies showing a significant increase in young sea stars and a return to their ecological role as predators, although their size and population stability have not fully returned to pre-epidemic levels.
Scientists have identified a strain of bacteria, Vibrio pectenicida, as the cause of the wasting disease that has killed billions of starfish along the West Coast since 2013, leading to ecological shifts such as sea urchin overpopulation and kelp decline. The discovery offers hope for recovery efforts, including breeding resistant starfish and restoring kelp forests, while raising questions about environmental triggers like climate change.