I'm melting!...News: sick/dying starfish worldwide (& video)
May 9, 2014 15:21:24 GMT -5
tracymay likes this
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2014 15:21:24 GMT -5
Here are 3 news posts from the ProMED site about sick & dying ocean sea stars. Note the first 2 posts dated May 6 claim unknown causes, but the third from Dec 2013 gives nuclear pollution from Fuku as a possible source. (Guess they got the memo to stop talking about it after that, huh?!
-- Yer Roving Hound Reporter Barb
ProMED is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseaseshttp://www.promedmail.org
Note my comments are in [brackets].
EA STAR DIE-OFF - USA (03): (OREGON) WASTING SYNDROME
******************************************************
POST 1:
ProMED-mail
Date: Tue 6 May 2014
Source: FrenchTribune
frenchtribune.com/teneur/1422467-mysterious-disease-killing-sea-stars-oregon
Dozens of sea star are dying in the Oregon Coast because of the mysterious disease that has previously killed these animals in Puget Sound [Washington state]. Divers with the Oregon Coast Aquarium found that 48 sea stars were either dead or dying in a 60-sq-mi [155.4 sq-km] area in Yaquina Bay on Oregon's central coast during a survey last week [28 Apr-4 May 2014].
The clinical signs of the disease have been witnessed in sunflower stars, ochre stars, and giant pink stars. The disease leads to physical deterioration and eventually causes death. Some of the sea stars experience arms break off from their body and walk away before they get dissolved completely. "They found, basically dead, melting animals. Their arms were curling up, they had signs of lesions or arms had detached and walked away from the bodies completely", said Erin Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Scientists believe the disease is caused by some bacteria or virus which is spreading fast. However, there is uncertainty over this theory as well. There were few reported cases in Oregon until last week [28 Apr-4 May 2014], said Paxton. Divers had been conducting surveys since January [2014], but did not find any evidence of affliction on sea stars until last week.
Now, divers will conduct additional surveys this week and next one [5-18 May 2014]. Paxton said that that they found sea stars falling victim of the disease, but it has not been ascertained yet how widespread it is. It is a big reason to worry as sea stars are considered a keystone species in the Oregon rocky reef ecosystem. If the species dies in more numbers, the entire food chain for the marine food web will experience adverse alterations.
Wasting disease has not been witnessed for the 1st time, but what makes it different this time is the fact that it has affected 12 different species unlike previously, when it typically attacked only one species. [RADIATION SICKNESS IS CROSS-SPECIES ]
******************************************************
POST 2:
ProMED-mail
Mass mortalities of echinoids (sea stars) as a result of disease have been widely reported from all over the world. Wasting disease has been observed in sea stars in the west coast of USA periodically during warm water years since it was first recognized in 1978 and was especially prevalent during the 1982-1984 El Nino. The marine environment is showing alarming signs of poor ecosystem health in several parts of the world. Coral reefs worldwide are threatened by increasing anthropogenic stressors, particularly overfishing and the problems associated with global climate change. These diseases may not be caused by a single culprit (such as a pathogen brought in by a ship), and it is likely that they have multiple interacting causes.
Anything that causes a severe disruption of the natural processes that govern an ecosystem has the potential to alter the dynamics of health of its animal community. However, the determinants of an alleged ecosystem health problem behind this unusual mortality event would be very difficult to elucidate. [OH YEAH? I'LL ECLUCIDATE IT FOR YA: MAYBE IT'S FUKUSHIMA!] An integration of perspectives of different scale (that is, local, regional, global; and placing the focus at different levels, from the individual to the whole ecosystem) might prove important to understand these abnormal episodes. For more information about sea star wasting disease go to www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/updates.html#articles.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map of the affected area can be accessed at healthmap.org/promed/p/239. - Mod.PMB]
Video report of the disease, Jan 2014:
SEA STAR DIE-OFF - USA: (WEST COAST) NUCLEAR POLLUTION SUSPECTED
****************************************************************
POST 3:
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Mon 30 Dec 2013
Source: News1130 [edited]
www.news1130.com/2013/12/30/starfish-wasting-disease-outbreak-could-be-due-to-radiation/
Researchers say nuclear pollution from the 2011 earthquake in Japan that damaged the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant could be partially to blame for a disease wiping out starfish along the West Coast.
Dr Peter Raimondi of the University of Santa Cruz says something is making starfish susceptible to what is believed to be a disease caused by a bacterium, coined "wasting disease." It essentially disintegrates the marine invertebrates into a white goo, after the starfish loses its legs. [POOR BABIES! ]
He says what's making sea stars unable to fight off the bacteria could be anything from warm water to toxins -- but Raimondi also says scientists can't rule out nuclear pollution, especially in light of the tsunami that followed the 2011 earthquake. It washed large amounts of debris to our shores -- and Raimondi says nuclear pollution could have come with that. "One of the byproducts is obviously nuclear radiation discharge. The 2nd thing is debris, tons of debris, which has shown up especially on the North West Coast," he adds.
Radiation or not, he says good work is being done to figure out what's decimating the starfish population, and researchers should have a more definite idea of what's going on in the next month to 6 weeks. Part of that is tracking the outbreak, and that's where he says you can help.
Raimondi encourages anyone who's seen signs of the disease should report the sightings to the Starfish Wasting Disease tracker. "This is a really neat opportunity for citizen science [YEAH, IT'S 'NEAT' TO OBSERVE DYING SEA LIFE!]... It's really been helpful [to get those citizen observations]... we're trying to figure out if it's a single point of initiation that spread, or multiple points of initiation because that will really be helpful in understanding what the delivery mechanism is," says Raimondi.
The disease was first spotted in Washington State in June [2013] but has since spread all the way to Alaska and California.about ocean sea stars sick & dying from a wasting disease.
-- END --
-- Yer Roving Hound Reporter Barb
ProMED is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseaseshttp://www.promedmail.org
Note my comments are in [brackets].
EA STAR DIE-OFF - USA (03): (OREGON) WASTING SYNDROME
******************************************************
POST 1:
ProMED-mail
Date: Tue 6 May 2014
Source: FrenchTribune
frenchtribune.com/teneur/1422467-mysterious-disease-killing-sea-stars-oregon
Dozens of sea star are dying in the Oregon Coast because of the mysterious disease that has previously killed these animals in Puget Sound [Washington state]. Divers with the Oregon Coast Aquarium found that 48 sea stars were either dead or dying in a 60-sq-mi [155.4 sq-km] area in Yaquina Bay on Oregon's central coast during a survey last week [28 Apr-4 May 2014].
The clinical signs of the disease have been witnessed in sunflower stars, ochre stars, and giant pink stars. The disease leads to physical deterioration and eventually causes death. Some of the sea stars experience arms break off from their body and walk away before they get dissolved completely. "They found, basically dead, melting animals. Their arms were curling up, they had signs of lesions or arms had detached and walked away from the bodies completely", said Erin Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Scientists believe the disease is caused by some bacteria or virus which is spreading fast. However, there is uncertainty over this theory as well. There were few reported cases in Oregon until last week [28 Apr-4 May 2014], said Paxton. Divers had been conducting surveys since January [2014], but did not find any evidence of affliction on sea stars until last week.
Now, divers will conduct additional surveys this week and next one [5-18 May 2014]. Paxton said that that they found sea stars falling victim of the disease, but it has not been ascertained yet how widespread it is. It is a big reason to worry as sea stars are considered a keystone species in the Oregon rocky reef ecosystem. If the species dies in more numbers, the entire food chain for the marine food web will experience adverse alterations.
Wasting disease has not been witnessed for the 1st time, but what makes it different this time is the fact that it has affected 12 different species unlike previously, when it typically attacked only one species. [RADIATION SICKNESS IS CROSS-SPECIES ]
******************************************************
POST 2:
ProMED-mail
Mass mortalities of echinoids (sea stars) as a result of disease have been widely reported from all over the world. Wasting disease has been observed in sea stars in the west coast of USA periodically during warm water years since it was first recognized in 1978 and was especially prevalent during the 1982-1984 El Nino. The marine environment is showing alarming signs of poor ecosystem health in several parts of the world. Coral reefs worldwide are threatened by increasing anthropogenic stressors, particularly overfishing and the problems associated with global climate change. These diseases may not be caused by a single culprit (such as a pathogen brought in by a ship), and it is likely that they have multiple interacting causes.
Anything that causes a severe disruption of the natural processes that govern an ecosystem has the potential to alter the dynamics of health of its animal community. However, the determinants of an alleged ecosystem health problem behind this unusual mortality event would be very difficult to elucidate. [OH YEAH? I'LL ECLUCIDATE IT FOR YA: MAYBE IT'S FUKUSHIMA!] An integration of perspectives of different scale (that is, local, regional, global; and placing the focus at different levels, from the individual to the whole ecosystem) might prove important to understand these abnormal episodes. For more information about sea star wasting disease go to www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/updates.html#articles.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map of the affected area can be accessed at healthmap.org/promed/p/239. - Mod.PMB]
Video report of the disease, Jan 2014:
SEA STAR DIE-OFF - USA: (WEST COAST) NUCLEAR POLLUTION SUSPECTED
****************************************************************
POST 3:
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Mon 30 Dec 2013
Source: News1130 [edited]
www.news1130.com/2013/12/30/starfish-wasting-disease-outbreak-could-be-due-to-radiation/
Researchers say nuclear pollution from the 2011 earthquake in Japan that damaged the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant could be partially to blame for a disease wiping out starfish along the West Coast.
Dr Peter Raimondi of the University of Santa Cruz says something is making starfish susceptible to what is believed to be a disease caused by a bacterium, coined "wasting disease." It essentially disintegrates the marine invertebrates into a white goo, after the starfish loses its legs. [POOR BABIES! ]
He says what's making sea stars unable to fight off the bacteria could be anything from warm water to toxins -- but Raimondi also says scientists can't rule out nuclear pollution, especially in light of the tsunami that followed the 2011 earthquake. It washed large amounts of debris to our shores -- and Raimondi says nuclear pollution could have come with that. "One of the byproducts is obviously nuclear radiation discharge. The 2nd thing is debris, tons of debris, which has shown up especially on the North West Coast," he adds.
Radiation or not, he says good work is being done to figure out what's decimating the starfish population, and researchers should have a more definite idea of what's going on in the next month to 6 weeks. Part of that is tracking the outbreak, and that's where he says you can help.
Raimondi encourages anyone who's seen signs of the disease should report the sightings to the Starfish Wasting Disease tracker. "This is a really neat opportunity for citizen science [YEAH, IT'S 'NEAT' TO OBSERVE DYING SEA LIFE!]... It's really been helpful [to get those citizen observations]... we're trying to figure out if it's a single point of initiation that spread, or multiple points of initiation because that will really be helpful in understanding what the delivery mechanism is," says Raimondi.
The disease was first spotted in Washington State in June [2013] but has since spread all the way to Alaska and California.about ocean sea stars sick & dying from a wasting disease.
-- END --