Their disappearance led to unchecked sea urchin growth, which in turn destroyed extensive kelp forests—habitats called the "rainforests of the ocean" due to their biodiversity and importance for ...

A mysterious illness has killed billions of sea stars in the past decade. After a four-year search, scientists have uncovered the culprit: a bacterium known as Vibrio pectenicida. The team ...

A new study identifies the cause of sea star wasting disease, offering hope the animals can come back and perhaps even help West Coast kelp forests recover.

A team featuring Canadian scientists has, after years of testing, determined the cause of the devastating sea star wasting disease. The culprit is a bacterial pathogen called vibrio pectenicida ...

However, after pivoting to coelomic fluid, which Prentice described as “essentially sea water,” the researchers did trigger disease in healthy sea stars.

A bacterium called Vibrio pectenicida may be melting sea stars along North America’s Pacific coast.

In Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers reveal the cause of sea star wasting disease (SSWD). This discovery comes more than a decade after the start of the marine epidemic that has ...

More sunflower sea stars could help protect a vital ecosystem from ravenous urchins.

Sea urchins have no brains or hearts. But put them in the proximity of the unmistakable sunflower sea star, and somewhere in their pin cushion-like body, they sense trouble. That's the main ...

Discover the benefits of harvesting sea urchin on the west coast. Join us for the next sea urchin removal event in September.

Sea urchin spines can snap off when they pierce the skin, causing local tissue reactions. In some cases, they will migrate into deeper tissue where they can form a granulomatous nodular lesion.