Sea Stars Make a Comeback After Mysterious 'Goo' Disease Killed Millions
By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | December 28, 2017 03:53 pm ET
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For the past four years, a mysterious syndrome has been killing millions of sea stars along the West Coast, turning the five-armed critters into piles of goo. But now, the sea stars appear to be making a comeback, according to news reports.
In Southern California and elsewhere, the palm-size sea stars are showing up in record numbers, compared with the past few years, The Orange County Register reportedon Tuesday (Dec. 26).
"They are coming back, big time," Darryl Deleske, an aquarist for the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, told The Orange County Register. "It’s a huge difference … A couple of years ago, you wouldn’t find any. I dove all the way as far as Canada, specifically looking for sea stars, and found not a single one." [In Photos: Sick Sea Stars Turn to Goo]
Beginning in 2013, researchers discovered that West Coast sea stars were dying from the mysterious sea star wasting syndrome. Infected starfish developed lesions and fell apart, turning into gooey blobs.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/61299-sea-stars-making-comeback.html?utm_source=notification
What Do Starfish Eat?
May 16, 2017
http://what-do-animals-eat.com/starfish/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Harlequin shrimp's only source of nutrition comes from starfish. They are very skilled at flipping over the slow starfish on its back, and eating the tube feet and soft tissues until it reaches the central disk. They, usually one female and one male, use their claws to pierce the tough skin and feeding legs to help them maneuver the starfish. Sometimes the starfish will shed the arm that the shrimp attacked and regrow (the shrimp can then re eat it), but it is usually too wounded to regrow. They may also feed on sea urchins, because they have tube feet as well, but that is rare and only if they're very hungry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenocera
