Environment

Scientists Identify Bacteria Behind Pacific Sea Star Die-Off

Published AUG 5 2025

Story

Above: Starfish on a sand beach in Key West, United States. Image credit: Unsplash

The Facts

In a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution on Monday, researchers identified Vibrio pectenicida as the bacterium responsible for "sea star wasting disease," which has killed over five billion sea stars along the Pacific coast of North America since 2013.
guardian
Sky News
Nature
The sunflower sea star species lost approximately 90% of its global population within the first five years of the outbreak, with losses exceeding 87% in northern refuges where it persists.
Global News
Independent
The disease causes sea stars to develop lesions before their arms fall off, and the animals dissolve into what researchers describe as puddles of goo within one to two weeks of exposure to the pathogen.
CBC News
Independent
Scientists discovered the bacterium by analyzing coelomic fluid from diseased sea stars rather than tissue samples, which had yielded inconclusive results in previous studies over the past decade.
Global News
guardian
The collapse of sunflower sea star populations led to an explosion in sea urchin numbers, which consumed approximately 95% of Northern California's kelp forests within a decade.
New York Post
Independent
Researchers successfully cultured pure Vibrio pectenicida bacteria and used them to induce the wasting disease in healthy sunflower sea stars in laboratory experiments.
Nature
NZ Herald

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The Spin

Narrative A

This breakthrough finally offers the tools to combat one of the ocean's most devastating epidemics. After a decade of watching these magnificent creatures decline, scientists can now develop targeted treatments, such as probiotics, and breed disease-resistant sea stars for reintroduction programs.

Independent

guardian

Narrative B

While identifying the bacterium marks progress, the real challenge lies ahead in understanding what triggered this pathogen to go rogue after existing harmlessly in ocean waters for years. Climate change and warming waters may have created conditions that allowed Vibrio pectenicida to proliferate and devastate sea star populations.

Inside Climate News