ENENEWS Fukushima Update: 12-13-2013

[countryjake]

40. Sea Stars have been in our news for the past month...

Has mysterious, deadly sea-star disease reached West Seattle waters? By Kiersten Throndsen Nov 25, 2013
http://www.komonews.com/communities/westseattle/Has-mysterious-deadly-sea-star-disease-reached-West-Seattle-waters-233342451.html



New images taken by local diver Laura James could show evidence that a mysterious and deadly disease plaguing the West Coast’s starfish population has reached West Seattle waters.



What's causing our Sea Stars to waste away? By Kiersten Throndsen Nov 15, 2013
http://www.komonews.com/news/eco/Whats-causing-our-sea-stars-to-waste-away--231982671.html

"It's quite morbid to watch this thing scurry around and have an arm fall off and another arm fall off and the legs shrivel up," said Gaydos, director of the SeaDoc Society, a science and marine conversation program at the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Through a one-minute time lapse, you watch as a sea star, known as a sunflower star, moves through a tank at the Vancouver Aquarium, losing leg after leg until it ultimately dies. The video was shot over a seven-hour period, and according to local scientists, what you see in the video is very similar to what they've seen happening to entire populations of sunflower stars in waterways along British Columbia and the West Coast.

"Divers ran into it doing a regular survey looking at rockfish," said Jeff Marliave, vice president of marine science at the Vancouver Aquarium. They took photos of all these rotting and dying sea stars…It was really in your face."



West Coast Starfish Turning to 'Goo' Is Latest in Mass Wildlife Deaths By Liz Fields Nov. 5, 2013
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/west-coast-starfish-turning-goo-latest-mass-animal/story?id=20781468

Marine biologists have reported widespread starfish die-offs along the West Coast, precipitated by a disease that causes their arms to fall off and the creatures to disintegrate and turn to "goo."

"Sea star wasting disease," has been flushing out a vast number of a particular five-legged species from tide pools, even wiping out up to 95 percent of the population, the AP reported.



Sea Star Wasting Syndrome
Mass Mortality Event
http://www.vanaqua.org/act/research/sea-stars

The coast of British Columbia is currently experiencing a sea star mass mortality event, coined Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. Recently, sea stars have appeared to be over-abundant throughout the Strait of Georgia, but divers began noticing sick and dying stars in early September 2013. The phenomenon seems to be affecting a number of species including purple stars (Pisaster ochraceus), pink stars (Pisaster brevispinus), mottled stars (Evasterias toschelii) and several others. However, the sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides, appears to be the hardest hit species, with dense aggregations disappearing in a matter of weeks. The wasting syndrome may be a pathogen that affects several species in the same way, or there may be multiple agents at play. The underlying causes of the epidemic are not known. But through collaborations with veterinarians, universities, other researchers, and the public, we are working to understand the problem.



Thank you so much, DeSwiss, for compiling all of those links for us! This is all terribly worrisome news for those of us in the Pacific Northwest. And the World.