Bringing back sunflower sea stars, which are functionally extinct in California, could help restore kelp forests off the ...

A team of oceanographers and marine biologists at the Hakai Institute, working with a colleague from the Central Coast ...

Since 2013, more than 20 sea star species from Mexico to Alaska have been affected by a sea star wasting disease. The sunflower sea star in particular, is among the worst hit. The outbreak has alarmed ...

The sea star wasting ... and death. Sunflower sea stars have never recovered from being nearly wiped out by the disease and are now classified as critically endangered by the International Union for ...

But the ocean ... sea star population. Gehman said divers with the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance returned from the Burke Channel off the central coast with stories of seeing many ...

A baby sunflower sea star at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long ... Kelp captures carbon up to 20 times more than terrestrial forests. It's also a home for marine animals; without kelp, many ...

Starfish are a keystone species and had kept populations of sea urchins in check, which in turn allowed kelp forests to grow. The sunflower stars are voracious predators, eating most things living on ...

However, she added, if the starfish ... also a home for marine animals; without kelp, many disappeared — felling fisheries that some supported. Releasing lab-raised stars into the ocean is ...