Dying Sea Stars and Climate Change?

Towards the end of this summer and into the fall, there were countless news articles published about the mysterious starfish (more accurately referred to as a sea star) die-offs on both the Western and Eastern coasts of the United States. Scientists are baffled by this strange phenomenon in which the sea stars seem to rapidly decay due to an unknown disease. Such tissue necrosis has become known as 'starfish wasting syndrome,' and it is unclear if it is caused by a bacterium, virus, or another type of infectious organism. The main point here is that although such disease has been documented over the past decade, the number and range of affected starfish populations has grown dramatically in 2013.

Why? This is exactly what marine biologists are hoping to figure out...

There have been a number of historical sea star disease outbreaks in American coastal waters, and it is clearly documented that the spreading and intensity of disease is exasperated by warmer water temperatures. You should all now be thinking two words..."climate change." Though there is not enough evidence to attribute the die-offs solely to climate changes, it is definitely plausible that increased coastal sea surface temperatures could have a strong connection to the mass starfish wasting syndrome observed this summer. 

The Ocean Portal has posted an interview with Dr. Chris Mah from the Smithsonian Institute in which a series of questions are briefly answered regarding the sea star disease. There are also links on this webpage that will lead you to further information about the distribution of disease in American waters and how to identify infected organisms. http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/sickly-starfish-qa-dr-chris-mah

Keep yourself updated on marine science in the news! Knowledge is power, and we need some powerful changes in the way humans interact with the oceans :)