Pacific Coast Starfish Are Turning Into Goo, But Scientists Don't Know Why Liana Aghajanian - TakePart
go to original December 3, 2013

Scientists are at a loss to explain what is 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)

From California to Alaska, large populations of sea stars, or starfish, are developing mysterious lesions on their bodies and rapidly disintegrating - sometimes in a matter of hours - and turning into what scientists are describing as "white goo."

The cause of the disease, dubbed sea star wasting syndrome, has flummoxed scientists, who have not been able to ascertain if it is triggered by a virus, a bacterial infection, or a combination of influences exacerbated by environmental stressors such as increased water temperature.

“The observation is that we see them dying in the ocean, in the lab, under controlled conditions, even dying when we're trying to give them the best environment possible,” said Gary Wessel, a molecular biologist at Brown University. “It's a big concern for us that shows that it's infectious, that it works in very low amounts, and that it crosses starfish species.”

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