Sea stars disease identified

After four years of experiments led by the California Institute of Marine Sciences, biologists identified the bacterium behind the sea star wasting disease

Scientists Find Answer to Sea Star Population Devastated by Pathogen Along the California Coast

Researchers announced that a bacterium called Vibrio FHCF-3 is linked to the wasting disease that has turned sea stars to goo along the California coast. The team confirmed the pathogen by examining the sea star's circulatory fluid, the coelomic fluid, and traced its spread to warming ocean temperatures. The outbreak has hit billions of Pacific sea stars from Washington state to the Baja Peninsula, disrupting a key part of the coastal ecosystem.

The four year effort was led by the California Institute of Marine Sciences with partners including the Hakai Institute, the universities of British Columbia and Washington, The Nature Conservancy, the Tula Foundation, the US Geological Survey, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. A breeding program for sunflower stars is underway, with facilities raising hundreds of healthy juveniles and screening them for FHCF-3 before release. Some of the young stars are displayed in aquariums to educate visitors about the sea stars' role and the broader balance of the seafloor and kelp forests.

The discovery highlights how climate change can amplify disease in wild ecosystems. A single microbe can ripple across food webs when warmer waters shift predator prey dynamics and disrupt balance on reefs and kelp forests. The collaboration shows what long term, cross institution science can achieve when funding and coordination align.

Recovery will not be immediate. It will require sustained funding, continued monitoring, and policies that protect critical habitats. Breeding programs help, but restoring natural dynamics means safeguarding kelp habitats, controlling other pressures on sea stars, and maintaining ongoing surveillance of the pathogen across the coast.

Highlights

The coast faces a long road to balance, but science is turning uncertainty into a plan for revival