25 Critically Endangered Sunflower Sea Stars Found on Oregon Coasts, Officials Hopeful for Species Recovery

The Oregon Coast Aquarium reports that a total of 25 critically endangered sunflower sea stars were found in Yaquina Bay near Newport, providing them with optimism for potential species recovery.

Critically Endangered

Since populations were decimated ten years ago by the sea star wasting illness, which caused the creatures to start losing their limbs before finally dissolving into the water, this is the case that has received the most attention in one location.

The sea stars were previously often seen in the tidal pools along the coast of Oregon. The animals are currently on the verge of extinction.

The West Coast's sea star population was decimated by an unknown sickness in 2013, putting the species in danger of going extinct.

In the bay, OCA staff members were looking for fish and crustaceans. This is when one adult and 24 young sunflower stars, the biggest measuring only six inches across, were found on the survey.

According to the aquarium, fully developed sea stars may grow up to four feet wide and have up to 26 arms.

As many as six million individual sea stars may have died within a few years, according to Steve Rumrill, who oversees the shellfish program for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2022, according to KGW8.

According to estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the illness killed 90% of the population of sunflower stars. Throughout the species' range, impacts varied by location and often advanced from south to north, while a noticeable delay happened off Oregon for an unidentified cause. Although less noticeable, declines in coastal British Columbia and the Aleutian Islands nevertheless topped 60% and most likely 80%.

Hope for Recovery

Tiffany Rudek, an aquarist, expressed her excitement as she started counting the stars.

Each species is cautiously lowered back to the seabed after being photographed and measured. The young sunflower stars, according to OCA, could be a sign of the species' comeback, but only time will reveal that.

Rudek said that it is a remarkable accomplishment to find not just one, but 25 sunflower stars. She is thrilled about what this may signify for the species because it is unprecedented.

Native to the Northeast Pacific Ocean's coastal waters, the organisms play an essential role in regulating urchin populations, KGW8 reports.

In 2023, scientists had discovered a cure for the disease. In the past ten years, the sickness has become more prevalent, according to Courtney Klug of the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

According to Klug, for this brand-new therapy, aquarium experts put a sea star in chilly water, feed it probiotics, and give it medicine baths. By March 2023, they will have rescued 17 specimens.

Sunflower sea stars consume sea urchins, as per Klug, hence the state must preserve them. According to a recent Oregon Public Broadcasting report, urchin populations that become uncontrollably huge risk destroying kelp beds, which are a source of food for several other creatures.