Although 5.75 billion of them were killed by a wasting disease in a recent five-year period, there’s hope that sunflower sea stars can make a comeback in some areas.
Updated: 29 minutes agoOregon State University biologist and diver Sarah Gravem motors past Sitka on her way to a kelp forest she is monitoring.
Sunflower sea stars — recently decimated from the ocean off western Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington — are like wolves of the kelp forest, eating sea urchins that will overgraze if left unchecked, often with a scorched-earth result. A sunflower sea star chases sea urchins that are prevented from escaping by a barrier installed by biologists offshore of Sitka.
Kelp forests are important because they provide fish with places to hide and provide sustenance for many other creatures. Norah Eddy, associate director of the Nature Conservancy’s oceans program in California, envisions reintroducing sunflower sea stars in strategic areas off the West Coast where kelp forests used to thrive.
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