Scientists Identify Bacteria Causing Sea Star Wasting

Many sea stars died on the Pacific coast. This happened in North America over ten years. Scientists now know why the sea stars died; it was a mystery before.

Sea stars have arms, usually five of them. Some sea stars have as many as twenty-four arms. Their colors can be orange, purple, brown, and green; they can be very bright.

The sea stars started dying in 2013, from Mexico to Alaska. This disease killed many kinds of sea stars. One kind, the sunflower sea star, lost almost all of its population; this was very bad.

The problem is bacteria that also infects shellfish. This information comes from a study in a science magazine. This discovery answers a long-standing question about the sickness; scientists worked hard on it.

Now that we know the cause, we can try to help the sea stars. We may move healthy stars or breed them. Sea stars are important for the ocean because they eat sea urchins. This helps the kelp forests grow.