Sea Star Wasting Disease

[mattaphore]

I noticed a lot of discussion on the BA Diving yahoo group about Sea Star Wasting Disease, but I realized I hadn't seen much about it on here.

There's a UCSC website with information about the wasting disease, and you can help provide additional data if you notice it on your dives and record the information.

I dove Breakwater last Saturday and noticed the effects. To me, it was most apparent with bat stars and ochre sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus). I hope it doesn't wipe them out for several years.
I've attached a picture of one wasting bat star that I came across.

 

[dshorwich]

I was diving with Reef Check two weekends ago; we didn't see any sick stars at Pt. Joe, but we saw plenty at Hopkins. On my dive I saw lots of ailing giant-spined stars, a blood star with lesions, and a broken-off arm from a sunflower star. Others saw bat stars with the disease, and ochre stars, too, if I recall correctly. Here's a picture of a giant-spined star missing an arm or two and apparently just barely hanging on.

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