University of Washington scientists have been working for years to build a plan to grow the sea stars in a lab and release them in the wild, hoping to save them.

Earlier this summer, Kish led a group of 10 people out into the tidepools at Yachats State Recreation Site on the central ...

The discovery by UF/IFAS researchers marks the first documented instance of SSWD in the Atlantic Ocean and the first known ...

Sunflower sea stars clinging to life in B.C.’s cold-water fjords are officially on the edge of extinction, a scientific ...

Sea star larvae have been stored at -200°C and thawed for the first time, a step towards restoring populations that have been ravaged by disease ...

With its ability to grow to as big as three feet across, armed with up to 24 limbs covered with tiny suction tubes, the sunflower star is a purple urchin-eating machine. But Bank said the sunflower ...

These sea stars seem to be more resilient to a deadly wasting disease than their counterparts in warmer waters. Bennett Whitnell/Hakai Institute By Siddhant Pusdekar May 1, 2025 at 1:00 pm ...

This sea star shows signs of complete tissue deterioration, the most severe category of sea star wasting syndrome, and is likely dead or dying. (Photo by Ben Miner) Beginning in 2013, a mysterious ...

All along the Pacific coast of North America, the sea stars have been disappearing. Commonly known as starfish, millions have died over the past year in an unprecedented outbreak of sea star wasting ...

The exact pathogen that triggered wasting syndrome is not yet identified. And any contribution of the sunflower sea star deaths to a longer-term decline in kelp forests is still unclear.

Once an ubiquitous delight of the Salish Sea, the sunflower star may soon be listed as threatened. A small lab at Friday Harbor could breed a new generation of the species.

It killed more than 90 percent of sunflower sea stars from 2013 to 2017, in what officials described as the largest marine wildlife disease outbreak on record. The sickness starts with lethargy ...