Research Suggests Pathogen Likely Cause of Massive Pacific Sea Star Die-Off Cheryl Santa Maria - The Weather Network
go to original May 7, 2014

Last year, scientists were at a loss to explain what was killing sea stars along the West Coast. In some places, 95 percent of the population has died, and the ecosystem on the coast is changing as a result. Ben Tracy reports. (CBSEveningNews)

The problem was first reported in August 2013 upon the grim discovery that sea stars were disintegrating on the ocean floor, turning into "goo" by the time they reached the lab for analysis.

Donna Gibbs, a research diver and taxonomist, told The Canadian Press that the unknown epidemic has been killing off the starfish at an alarming rate.

"They’re gone. It’s amazing," she told the news agency. "Whatever hit them, it was like wildfire and just wiped them out."

Other species of sea stars have been affected as well, resulting in a massive die-off involving millions of creatures between British Columbia and Mexico.

Now, research is suggesting that either a bacterial or viral pathogen is the culprit - although a definitive cause has yet to be determined.

One thing they know for sure, though, is that the disease is an efficient killer with a mortality rate of about 95 percent.

Read the rest at The Weather Network

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