Sea Star Wasting Syndrome Massively Killing Sea Stars.

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Right before we jump into the discussion on what sea star wasting syndrome is, I think it is only smart for us to describe what a sea star in itself is, a lot of us are familiar with starfish, but sea stars are not really fish as the case may be, we could rather describe them as Urchins and sand dollars, they do not have backbone which makes them fall under the category of invertebrates, but fish, on the other hand, are vertebrates as they have a backbone.

Most existing sea stars spot spiny skins and five arms, but some of them could grow as much as 50 arms, the arms they grow are covered with organs that have pincerlike arms and suckers that make room for animals to creep slowly along the oceans floor, they have a light-sensitive eyespot on the tips of their arm that allows them to find food easily. Sea stars aren't particularly social creatures, but during some of the year, they will gather in large numbers in order to feed. They consume bivalves, snails, and fish.

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It would be fun to know that sea stars have the ability to regenerate a lost arm, scientists are also studying them carefully to see if humans would also be able to regenerate
lost body parts, so when you hold a sea star by an arm, it could self-amputate the arm and drop it off, then go through the procedure of regeneration which often takes months to years to complete.

The high level of death from sea stars is alarming, the cause of the death is called "sea star wasting syndrome(SSWS)" which previously existed in the 1970s,80s, and 90s, but that was at a very low level, but in 2013/2014, the cases of death increased in number significantly. Sea stars are top predators of the water, and just like intertidal species, they have the ability to tolerate serious extreme conditions like the pounding of waves, and desiccation during the period of being exposed to low tide and heat. However, the contributed stress of warm water that came up during the 2014-2016 marine heatwave made them more vulnerable and increased the spread of sea star wasting syndrome, therefore resulting in the crash of the populations in the Gulf of Alaska.

Some publishers have also mentioned that the cause of SSW is unresolved, as some reports claimed it was associated with densovirus, but there came subsequent investigation that was unable to produce consistency in the association between the virus and the presence of the disease.
Sea star wasting syndrome symptoms includes; an arm that is abnormally twisted, deflation of the arms and the body, white lesions, body disintegration, and loss of the arm, after these symptoms show, they die within a few days or weeks. At first, the disease was mistaken for a virus, but with an updated search, there is evidence that points to bacterial infection, coming from sea star's microbiome. With a proliferation of bacteria on the surface of sea stars, it leads to a reduction of oxygen, which then causes the star to suffocate. This suffocating trait is not transmissible from one star to another, but the bacteria is transmissible. Decaying stars now even make matters worse by providing a more organic material needed for the bacterial communities to function appropriately.

The discovery of sea star wasting disease in Europe was accidental, although there have been previous reports from aquariums, this was the first time it was reported by scientists. Partick and his co-authors had set out to collect starfish for behavioral study, when they took these specimens from the Irish Sea in March 2022, but unfortunately, the specimen began to die from sea star wasting disease and it certainly resulted in the failure of the experiment. The weather at the time was too hot for them, at the time of the collection, it was reported that the United Kingdom was 2 degrees hotter than usual, and Northern Ireland where the collection happened was experiencing 90% of more sunshine at the time.

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Every aquatic surface is coated with a thin film of water that impedes gas and solute exchanges, providing aerobic respiration in a sufficiently high, and depleted oxygen condition which could form on a surface regardless of the saturated water above. However, if a mysterious disease like this is to be understood, there has to be more work put into place. Sea star wasting syndrome generally describes some symptoms found in sea stars, it is typical to find lesions appearing in the ectoderm then followed by tissue decay surrounding the lesions which could eventually result in fragmentation of the body likewise death.

A deflated appearance may be the first noticed sign, all these symptoms are linked with the ordinary symptoms of unhealthy stars and could become an issue when the star is stranded on an extremely high level in the inter-tidal zone. The staff of Oregon Coast Aquarium developed a treatment plan for the wasting disease that has been taking the lives of sea stars, these aquarium staff (Tiffany Rudek) has worked with a strategy that develops a suitable method of treating an ill, an injured, or a stressed sea star. Many of the treated cases under their care made a difference between life and death.

The treatment option involved the consideration of the star's immune system in contrast to treating myrais bacterial factors, also applicable to the treatment of physical injuries and wasting symptoms also. Their method of treatment has so far saved 17 sea stars of different species and she plans to collaborate with other lab scientists.