One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
What's Happening To The Starfish In California?
(Photo by Jason Rojas via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
Note from the editors: On November 21, 2013 we discovered the post below did not follow our standard practice for attribution, which is to quote and link to original sources. The source in question is The Christian Post. The editor responsible is no longer working for LAist, and we are reviewing each of her other posts and will issue corrections if we discover any other errors.
Where have all the sea stars gone? The answer is grim: A mysterious disease is destroying a breed of starfish found along the West Coast.
Scientists say an outbreak of “sea star wasting disease” -- a sickness that causes starfish to develop white lesions, lose arms and eventually disintegrate -- is to blame. The illness is spreading at a rapid rate from Southern California all the way up to Alaska, CBS reports.
The disease appears to be a pathogen that is exacerbated in warm water during summer and fall seasons, scientists said.
Wasting disease has killed off about 95 percent of orange and purple starfish that are commonly found in West Coast tide pool populations, according to the Associated Press. Mike Schaadt, Director of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, told CBS that while the sickness is troubling, it is part of a natural process that scientists have seen before.
Schaadt said a similar outbreak killed off about 90 percent of the starfish breed five years ago, but population numbers eventually bounced back to normal. He added that the disease is unlikely to pose a long-term ecological threat.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
