"In 2013, starfish — including the morning sun star, the richly hued ochre star and the sunflower star, whose limbs can span four feet across — started dying by the millions along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska.
They were succumbing to a wasting disease. It began with white lesions on their limbs, the dissolution of the surrounding flesh, a loss of limbs and finally death. Understanding, let alone solving, the problem would take research.
One day, shortly after the epidemic began, Drew Harvell, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University who had been sounding the alarm about the disease, received a curious letter."
Kendra Pierre-Louis reports for the New York Times January 30, 2019.
SEE ALSO:
"Sea Star Wasting Disease, Revisited" (Hakai)
"Massive Starfish Die-Off Is Tied To Global Warming" (NPR)
"Star Pupils: Students Inspire Key Study On Alarming Starfish Decline" (Guardian)
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