There’s hope for an iconic ocean predator that has mostly disappeared from California’s coastlines: the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). The population began to plummet in 2013, following an outbreak of sea star wasting disease, a deadly ailment that pocks starfish bodies with lesions and then dissolves their flesh. It affects roughly 20 species, and … Continue reading There’s hope for sunflower sea stars, with their killer unmasked and reintroductions pending