Posted on Mar 17, 2023
Pizza-sized predators to get federal protection
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The world’s fastest sea star could get a little boost from the U.S. government.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed listing the sunflower star as a threatened species, which could lead federal agencies to block projects that would harm its habitats and unlock funding for research on how to save the species.
The pizza-sized predator with up to two dozen arms has been unable to outrun the world’s worst underwater pandemic.
A wasting disease has turned 20 species of sea stars into goo from Alaska to Mexico. None has been hit harder than the sunflower star, a once-dominant predator on Pacific Coast seafloors and in kelp forests.
“Sea star wasting syndrome” — scientists’ placeholder name for what remains a mystery illness — has killed 5 billion sunflower stars, or 90% of their global population, over the past decade.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed listing the sunflower star as a threatened species, which could lead federal agencies to block projects that would harm its habitats and unlock funding for research on how to save the species.
The pizza-sized predator with up to two dozen arms has been unable to outrun the world’s worst underwater pandemic.
A wasting disease has turned 20 species of sea stars into goo from Alaska to Mexico. None has been hit harder than the sunflower star, a once-dominant predator on Pacific Coast seafloors and in kelp forests.
“Sea star wasting syndrome” — scientists’ placeholder name for what remains a mystery illness — has killed 5 billion sunflower stars, or 90% of their global population, over the past decade.
Pizza-sized predators to get federal protection
Posted from kuow.org
Wildlife
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Sea star wasting syndrome” — scientists’ placeholder name for what remains a mystery illness — has killed 5 billion sunflower stars, or 90% of their global population, over the past decade.
From the Olympic Peninsula to Baja, 98% of sunflower stars have died. In the inland Salish Sea of Washingon and British Columbia, 92% have died.
“At this point, there is essentially no smoking gun. There is not a specific pathogen that's been identified yet,” said marine biologist Dayv Lowry with the National Marine Fisheries Service."
..."Sea star wasting syndrome” — scientists’ placeholder name for what remains a mystery illness — has killed 5 billion sunflower stars, or 90% of their global population, over the past decade.
From the Olympic Peninsula to Baja, 98% of sunflower stars have died. In the inland Salish Sea of Washingon and British Columbia, 92% have died.
“At this point, there is essentially no smoking gun. There is not a specific pathogen that's been identified yet,” said marine biologist Dayv Lowry with the National Marine Fisheries Service."
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