Tag #Marine Disease

What caused the mass mortality of an estimated 5 billion starfish along the Pacific coast, and what are the immediate consequences?

A decade-long pandemic has wiped out at least 5 billion starfish along the Pacific coast, from Mexico to Alaska. The culprit? A bacteria, Vibrio pectenicida, identified in a recent study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. This bacteria affects multiple starfish species, with the sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides) experiencing a 90% population decline in the first five years.