Discovery of #SeaStarWastingDisease cause sheds light on #kelp forest collapse and recovery https://phys.org/news/2025-07-discovery-sea-star-disease-kelp.html

"This comes more than a decade after the start of the marine epidemic that has killed billions of #SeaStars... The 4-year investigation eventually pinpointed the microbial culprit: a strain of the bacterium #Vibrio pectenicida... The loss of #SunflowerSeaStars, which support #KelpForests by feeding on kelp-eating #SeaUrchins, has had widespread and lasting effects on ecosystems"

Frozen sperm could help bring these giant #SeaStars back from the brink of #extinction https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/sunflower-sea-star-breeding-1.7138132

"Once abundant in the #Pacific, they have been all but wiped out in the wild over the last decade by a mysterious wasting disease linked to #warming... Scientists, government and conservationists across the West Coast have been collaborating to save the #SunflowerSeaStars... One key part is breeding them in captivity, with the hopes of one day releasing them back into the wild."

Sunflower #SeaStars are critically endangered, but can humans help the species rebound? https://phys.org/news/2024-03-sunflower-sea-stars-critically-endangered.html

"2 aquariums teamed up with labs and scientists to successfully spawn #SunflowerSeaStars recently, giving hope for the critically #EndangeredSpecies that was nearly wiped out when a #SeaStar wasting syndrome swept the West Coast about a decade ago, killing billions."