A mysterious marine disease called "sea star wasting disease" is literally turning starfish along the U.S. West Coast into mush.
"They essentially melt in front of you," Pete Raimondi, chairman of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab told the Press Democrat.
Starfish suffering from the condition tend to develop white lesions that become ulcers; the starfish then usually lose their limbs before turning into what observers have described as "goo."
"True wasting disease will be present in individuals that are found in suitable habitat, often in the midst of other individuals that might also be affected. The progression of wasting disease can be rapid, leading to death within a few days, and its effects can be devastating on [sea star] populations," a UC Santa Cruz news release reported.
Researchers are having trouble identifying exactly what is causing the starfish's deterioration.
"Their flesh deteriorates and there's nothing to hold them together," Donna Gibbs, a diver and taxonomist at the Vancouver Aquarium, who also said the remains appeared to be "goo piles," told NBC News. "That's as technical as it gets right now."
The condition has killed up to 95 percent of the sea star populations in certain tide pools, the Press Democrat reported.
The disease has devastated sea star populations in the U.S. before, most notably between the years of 1983 and 1984, but this outbreak has already been deemed to be worse.
"We've never seen it at this scale up and down the coast," Raimondi said.
Gary Wessel, of Brown University, believes the condition is caused by a virus or bacteria rather than environmental factors or water contamination, NBC reported. The researcher and his students have found the disease is contagious between individual starfish. The rot has not been believed to spread to other species.
Wessel, believes environmental stressors such as a change in water temperature in combination with an unknown pathogen is the most likely culprit. Fall and spring temperatures have been shown to be a trigger in Rhode Island starfish.
