News Animals

Some bacteria are suffocating sea stars, turning the animals to goo

Microbes that thrive in high nutrient settings deplete oxygen in water around the animals

Dermasterias imbricata

Sea star wasting disease can dissolve a healthy sea star — such as this leather star (Dermasterias imbricata) at the Sitka Sound Science Center in Alaska — into a puddle of goo.

Ian Hewson

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

The mysterious culprit behind a deadly sea star disease is not an infection, as scientists once thought.