"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. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Sea Star Wasting Disease, Revisited" (Hakai) [3]

"Massive Starfish Die-Off Is Tied To Global Warming" (NPR) [4]

"Star Pupils: Students Inspire Key Study On Alarming Starfish Decline" (Guardian) [5]