Once thought to be on the brink of extinction, sea stars along Oregon’s coast are having a baby boom. Tide pools are clogged with juvenile sea stars that stretch the size of a few pennies, chowing down on the mussels and urchins that had overtaken these environments during their absence.
It’s a promising sign. Starting in 2013, sea stars on the West Coast began dying from what came to be known as sea star wasting disease. The illness caused sea stars to curl up, lose limbs and even melt into a pile of goo.
Within a decade, sea star wasting disease had decimated 90% of the West Coast’s sea star population, crippling marine ecosystems that depend on the voracious predators to keep certain other species in check. But after a decade of death, scientists have started to notice that the marine creatures are making a comeback.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
