Study IDs possible cause of sea star wasting disease that wreaked havoc on Oregon Coast
The bacterium Vibrio pectenicida was identified as being the causative agent in a disease that has killed billions of sunflower sea stars on the West Coast.
The finding is critical, the study says, because the discovery "will enable recovery efforts for sea stars and the ecosystems affected by their decline."
The loss of sea stars has led to a highly impactful "trophic cascade" in the ecosystem off the coast. Left unchecked by predatory sea stars, the sea urchin population has exploded, which has led to a major decline in nearshore kelp forests that serve as habitat for a wide range of fish and shellfish species.
In 2021, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to list the sunflower sea star under the Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to protect the species as threatened in 2023 but the listing has not yet been finalized.
'Hats off to the dedicated researchers who've identified what killed billions of these extraordinary sea stars in the Pacific,' said Catherine Kilduff, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'With this new information, I'm hopeful we'll be able to stop the sunflower sea star's decline and get their populations back up so they're thriving again."
Kilduff said the discovery can help entire ecosystems and highlights why research funding and species protection are important.
"The federal government needs to stop dragging its feet and provide the safeguards these sea stars desperately need to survive," Kilduff said.
Sea star wasting disease first emerged in 2013 along the Pacific Coast and quickly became one of the largest documented marine epidemics ever recorded. Sunflower sea stars, which can grow to 3 feet across and have up to 20 arms, once ranged in high densities from Mexico to Alaska. But they were extremely susceptible to the disease, and after multiple waves of die-offs, have become functionally extinct in their southern range and have lost nearly 91% of its population overall.
The identification of the bacterium causing SSWD, conducted between 2021 and 2024, is critical because it could mean treating sea stars in captivity with antibiotics or testing them in the field, Scenice News reported.
"You can treat them with antibiotics [that] would target that specific bacteria,' Ian Hewson, a marine ecologist at Cornell University, told the media outlet.
Any rebound in their population would be critical. The kelp forests off the Oregon Coast have been disappearing at an alarming rate as the number of sea urchins rises. The forests absorb carbon dioxide and support fish, otters, sea lions and other animals.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 18 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors and BlueSky at oregonoutdoors.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Study IDs possible cause of sea star wasting disease on Pacific coast
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