After a mortal virus that killed most of the starfish population in 2013, the sea creatures are back in the picture in larger numbers and more powerful than ever.
In 2015, The Oregon State University was in charge of a study that demonstrated an incredible amount of baby starfish in Northern California and Oregon’s shores after being lashed by an outbreak that took off any hope in science about their return.
It is a deadly disease that destroyed the starfish group in the waters all along West Coast. The causes of the sea stars virus remain uncertain and it was so fatal that their tiny bones were all spread in the shores and rocks.
Nevertheless, some researchers have ascribed the disease to water temperatures on the coast, but there is no evidence up to this moment about the reliability of this fact as the main reason for the epidemic.
Despite this, after the summer and winter of 2015, starfish have appeared in big astonishing numbers that exceed the normal average of 300 times. It seems that after suffering the virus that killed off most of the species, a new generation of sea stars have been born, a fact that amazed scientists who are still trying to link the virus with a possible viable reason that leads to future prevention.
Scientists’ concern about the return of the disease lies in the important place that starfish plays in our ecosystem. They are exhaustively finding out the origins of the deadly virus in case it might attack new sea star’s generations.
Source: The Weather Channel