Sea Star Wasting Disease

Observation by Ginger Bear:

Sea star wasting in the King Cove Lagoon. Same lagoon where we dig butter clams. There are healthy sea stars in the same lagoon. I’m not sure what’s happening.

Melissa Miner, from University of California, Santa Cruz writes:

That does look like SSWD to me. We had another report last week of a big die-off in British Columbia, which is concerning. I’ll pass this along to my colleagues, and we’ll add it to our SSWD observation log. Thanks for passing it along!

Comments from LEO Editors:

The Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) monitor the long term health of a variety of species in rocky intertidal habitats. As part of this network, sea stars are monitored for signs of sea star wasting disease. MARINe maps instances of sea star wasting disease here. It does not appear that there is data collected near King Cove.