Scientists identify bacterium behind devastating wasting disease in starfish

After 90% loss of global sunflower sea star population in 10 years, researchers hope decline can now be tackled

A decade after the onset of a sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epidemic considered the largest ever documented in the wild, researchers have identified the microbial culprit responsible: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.

In 10 years, the bacterium has ravaged sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a large sea star or starfish, along the western coast of North America, with a loss of 5.8 billion since 2013 - or 90% of the total global population. The sunflower sea star is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of critically endangered species.