mithsonian,
Apr 6, 2015: [M]illions of sea stars along North America’s Pacific
coast met a grisly end when a virus rotted their bodies into lumps of
white goo… scientists fear that greater consequences of this “wasting
disease” are already at play. And the sickness may be spreading even
further… ecologists worry that the sea urchins could now be catching the
same ailment.
Tweet from National Geographic,
Apr 1, 2015: Now urchins are wasting away off California, in addition
to sea stars… as the fallout from sea star disease ripples along the
California coast.
National Geographic, Apr. 1, 2015 (emphasis added): [I]n southern California, urchins are losing their spines and dying… [T]he mass mortalities…
are newly discovered phenomena that appear to be connected to a die-off
of sea stars… Santa Barbara to Baja California, urchins’ spines are
falling out, leaving a circular patch that loses more spines and
enlarges with time… “We think that there’s a wasting event going on with urchins,”
says Peter Raimondi, an ecology professor at the University of
California, Santa Cruz. “It is by no means as rapid as the sea star
wasting… But we do see it in multiple sites. And when we do see it, we see it in a lot of animals.”… [S]cientists revealed a virus… had suddenly flourished [in sea stars], although no one at this point understands why… biologists have suggested that the virus may have evolved, becoming an extra-potent slayer…
“There are particular signs that point to this being a wasting event,
the way the animals are dying,” Raimondi says. The most common kinds of
California urchins—purple, red, and white—are losing their spines…
markers indicate that sea urchins in southern California are now in a
wasting event, Raimondi says… Researchers fear that sea star wasting
disease has spread to urchins.
READ MORE:http://enenews.com/natgeo-newly-discovered-mass-mortality-sea-creatures-along-california-coast-body-parts-falling-animals-wasting-away-researchers-fear-sea-star-epidemic-spreading
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