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sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:14 pm
by CaptnJack
Started noticing more and more with every dive myself

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/science ... 456269.php?

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:48 pm
by Penopolypants
Yay!

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:42 pm
by Gdog
[quote]The wasting syndrome never completely disappeared in Northern and Central California and it has reappeared in the Salish Sea region of Washington state, according to a November report by the University of Santa Cruz.[quote]
Not encouraging tho...

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:04 pm
by Jan K
THe wasting still continues, even if not on great scale. I see plenty of baby stars, but that was true in last two winters without showing substantial increase in sea stars in Whidbey waters. Especially hard hit Sunflower stars are far from recovered. Here and there I see few adults at Keystone and Holmes Harbor, but at Langley, where they used to be in hundreds, I might come across couple of six inch strugglers... And what is discouraging is that I see wasting even if the water is now cold. :(

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:11 pm
by CaptnJack
Hood Canal is dramatically improved over 2 yrs ago

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:03 pm
by ljjames
Mid sound is still suffering issues, the mottled stars are the primary asteroid showing recovery (small ones a year or so ago grown to now mid sized) and even so, up to 20% of those on a given dive are wasting. We still have very few Ochre stars of which one or two always seem to be wasting and i can’t remember the last time i saw even a juvenile sunflower at the coves.
From reports it sounds like there are pockets of healthy ochre stars around the mid sound (over on the far side of Gig Harbor area etc.), it would be awesome to map these pockets and understand if they were just less impacted or what. These pockets though, all seem like collections of mostly adults, meaning that here in the mid sound anyway perhaps they were not impacted so much in the first place. That said, I don’t know how long it takes for an ochre star to grow to adult size.
This images that Jan K has been sharing show smaller mottled stars in prevalence but with wasting as he’s described above.
If anything the reports basically indicate that we need more data. So taking note of sea stars on your dives and reporting back would be outstanding.

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:41 pm
by Jeremy
At Mukilteo last weekend I saw 6-7 ochre (purple) sea stars....adult size, but every one of them wasting. :(

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:26 pm
by SealScott
Seeing more medium sized pycnopodias – few along Alki Pipeline and one out at Pt Townsend - but it's hard to tell if they are infected. I've counted a few mottled stars, but only a couple of ochres.

Has anyone seen any spiny pinks?

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:30 pm
by Jan K
SealScott wrote:Seeing more medium sized pycnopodias – few along Alki Pipeline and one out at Pt Townsend - but it's hard to tell if they are infected. I've counted a few mottled stars, but only a couple of ochres. Has anyone seen any spiny pinks?

I found three small ( about 5") Pycnopodias, and dozens of "spiny pinks" at Langley few days ago. All healthy.
One Mottled wasting, all others healthy.

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:28 pm
by SealScott
Jan K wrote: I found three small ( about 5") Pycnopodias, and dozens of "spiny pinks" at Langley few days ago. All healthy.
One Mottled wasting, all others healthy.
Good to hear. Thank you, Jan!

Re: sea star wasting

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:08 pm
by H20doctor
I have seen several Large Sunflowers , Healthy and Big... Alki Junkyard.. 3 tree.. Saw 2 big guys at EUP... And scootering Driftwood Beach ...