Melting Starfish

Observation by Carol Fletcher:

There were melting starfish for half a mile all along the beach, all in different stages of wasting away. I've seen this about 4 or 5 years ago here the same thing, a lot of starfish in different stages of decomposition. These were taken August 21st in Kasaan Bay where our clam beds are all the way to where we collect cockles. I haven't seen this in a few years here but contacted a website who said it was a Parvo like disease they get, this was when it went from California on up the coast. Today I found a different website on this Sea Star Wasting Syndrome | MARINe (ucsc.edu) which has some interesting information on this.

Comment from Melissa Miner:

We have also received a few reports recently of Sea Star Wasting (SSW) in WA. We could add Carol's observation to our Sea Star Map? And if people are looking for a place to report observations of both sick and healthy stars, they can do so via our Observation Log. See MARINe "Sea Star Map " and "Observation Log link" attached.

Comment from Kris Holderied:

I'm sorry to see that observation about melting starfish from Kasaan, and agree that it looks a lot like sea star wasting disease. I'd suggest reaching out to Brenda Konar (UAF) and Sarah Traiger (USGS) and have copied them here, in case they aren't already aware of this. They are connected with the West Coast sea star groups and involved in long-term nearshore monitoring efforts in the Gulf of Alaska. For awareness, I'm also copying Reid Brewer and Ross Whippo (our new Kasitsna Bay Lab director and research staff), who have sea star and kelp forest ecology expertise.

Comment from Brenda Konar, UAF:

The photos you forwarded look like Sea Star Wasting but others would be better judges. I've seen it a few times in the Kachemak Bay region recently but not the numbers that are reported here. It is too bad to see this. I was hoping we were beyond it as we've also been seeing a lot of juvenile stars.

Comment from Gemini:

This observation of melting starfish adds to a growing number of reports of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) documented in the LEO Network from Alaska to California. As early as 2015, observers in Kake and Seldovia, Alaska, noted starfish exhibiting symptoms consistent with SSWD. The geographic scope and persistence of this issue are highlighted by observations from Homer in 2018, Juneau in 2019, and Fort Wrangel in 2020, all reporting similar occurrences. The observation from Kasaan aligns with reports of SSWD impacting other regions, including a 2018 report of ongoing sea star wasting in British Columbia https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sea-stars-still-wasting-away-in-b-c-waters-1.4887230. The potential connection between SSWD and environmental factors like warming ocean temperatures requires further investigation. The observation from Kasaan underscores the importance of continued monitoring and research to understand the long-term impacts of SSWD on coastal ecosystems.