Young starfish numbers exploding, but recovery uncertain (video)

[Lodestar]

Last edited Sat May 7, 2016, 03:46 PM - Edit history (2)

The number of juvenile sea stars along the Oregon coast is exploding, just two years after wasting disease nearly wiped out populations.

But that doesn’t mean the threat of disease is over, researchers from Oregon State University said in a study published this week in the journal PLOS One.

“Whether they can make it into adulthood and replenish the population without succumbing to sea star wasting disease is the big question,” OSU marine biology professor Bruce Menge, the lead author on the study, said in a news release.

Sea star wasting syndrome arrived on the Oregon coast in April 2014. The fatal condition causes sea stars, also known as starfish, to literally melt.

cont'd

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/central-coast/young-starfish-numbers-exploding-recovery-uncertain/173787601


Sea star juveniles abundant, but recovery is anything but guaranteed

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505144846.htm

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An important report everyone needs to read:
http://www.fukushimaishere.info/Transnationality_ofRadContam.pdf

If estimates are correct regarding increases in caesium levels in the entire Pacific Ocean
well beyond the peak level during the nuclear weapons tests, these are preliminary
findings of degradation of the ecosystem at a far greater scale than has been anticipated.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Hoping for a real recovery for these fascinating creatures. n/t