A devastating sea star disease has killed billions of the animals, with a particularly severe impact on sunflower starfish. (Photo courtesy of Grant Callegari/Hakai Institute)
Scientists have identified the source of a mysterious marine plague that has turned billions of starfish along the West Coast into slime — and it's not what they expected.
A devastating sea star disease has been plaguing the sea since 2013, causing catastrophic damage to ecosystems and pushing the largest species of sea star to the brink of extinction. Researchers thought the disease might be caused by a virus, but after four years of research, they discovered it was a strain of bacteria.
The pathogenic bacterium is Vibrio pectenicida, which belongs to the same genus as the cholera pathogen (V. cholerae) and produces strains that devastate coral and shellfish populations, the researchers say.
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