Loss of sea stars allows sea urchin count to grow, threatening kelp forests

A decade after sea star wasting disease arrived in Sitka Sound, researchers are investigating the relationship between sea urchins, kelp forests and sunflower stars.

Scientists still don’t know much about the disease, which causes several species of sea stars, such as sunflower stars, to lose their limbs before dissolving.

“Sea star” is the name marine scientists now use with reference to the five-limbed marine invertebrate instead of the common term “starfish,” because it is not actually a fish.

Around Sitka, sea star wasting disease is responsible for the loss of sunflower stars, which are a...