The North Olympic Peninsula’s remaining sea stars may be holding their own, but there is no evidence yet of a remarkable recovery of young sea stars seen elsewhere along the Pacific coast, researchers say.
With nearly all of the mature sea stars dead and gone, rarely seen juvenile sea stars — popularly known as starfish — have been seen emerging by the hundreds at locations previously devastated by a malady known as sea star wasting syndrome during the past 18 months.
Two surveys near Everett found a total of about 600 juvenile ochre stars — one of the hardest-hit species.
Five other Puget Sound surveys found hundreds more.
However, sea star colonies on rocky outcroppings along North Olympic Peninsula shorelines not are part of that good news, researchers in Clallam and Jefferson counties say.
Staff and volunteers at the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles and Port Townsend Marine Science Center have spent many hours since late 2013 tracking the progress of sea star wasting syndrome in their respective areas.
Feiro researchers found that the disease, believed to be caused by a densovirus, has obliterated 98 percent of sea stars in the Freshwater Bay area west of Port Angeles.
Port Townsend observers are making another survey Monday after pessimistic winter sightings that suggested the pathogen’s presence.
The disease causes sea stars to “melt” into a white goo.
In the current outbreak, the worst on record, the infection had spread among sea stars from Alaska to Mexico.
It is believed that warmer-than-usual waters has allowed the densovirus to spread beyond localized outbreaks and survive in sea star populations through winters.
Two Feiro surveys conducted April 19 and 20 at Freshwater Bay indicated that the number of healthy adult ochre stars is slowly increasing, but there were no juveniles to be found, said Helle Andersen, a marine biologist at Western Washington University Huxley College of the Environment and a Feiro volunteer.
The next Feiro sea star survey will be taken at 11:30 a.m. June 6 at Freshwater Bay County Park.
To volunteer for the survey, phone Andersen at 360-808-4984.
The rocky outcropping on the west side of Freshwater Bay has been scoured by volunteers searching for sea stars during very low tides since November 2013.
The first survey showed hundreds of the purple and orange ochre stars, many giant sunflower stars, mottled stars, delicate red blood stars, unique six-armed stars and rainbow stars with their multicolor banded arms.
By autumn 2014, a Feiro Marine Life Center survey found only three healthy ochre stars and no sunflower stars.
April’s survey found 11 of them — which may be a hopeful sign, Andersen said.
“Still a much lower count than last spring, but it is going in the right direction,” she said.
There is one small sign of hope.
Feiro’s visitor tanks on Port Angeles City Pier include one covered in dozens of tiny white baby six-armed stars, a species that has been hit less severely than the ochre, sunflower and mottled stars.
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center, on the pier in Fort Worden State Park, made a survey Monday of the Indian Island site at which the organization is tracking the sea star disease.
Autumn surveys showed few adult stars and a large number of juvenile stars, while winter surveys found more large adults and few or no juveniles, said Chrissy McLean, marine program coordinator for the science center.
The good news was that in the past few surveys, no sea stars showed signs of the disease, McLean said.
“They’re all doing very well. They’re stable,” she said.
However, she added, it is a case of wait-and-see for what summer warm waters will bring.
McLean said the lack of juvenile stars was likely due to the presence of the larger sea stars, which will attack and eat a juvenile.
The youngsters spend much of their young lives in hiding, she said.
She said sea stars in the science center’s tanks are showing no signs of new infection.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
