Sea Star Wasting Syndrome they're calling it and Living On Earth, the June 20, 2014 edition, covers the distressing news of what may be a case of poisoning from consuming contaminated mollusks. Sea Stars do love their mollusks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and scientists are scratching their noggins over what's dissolving the Sea Stars on the Northwest Pacific Coast and elsewhere. The victims are key animals in the environmental hierarchy of the seas.
Here's a suggestion: perhaps the Pacific Ocean's radiation poisoning is affecting mollusks (who soak up everything) and other food sources--or even the Sea Stars themselves--due to the 2010 Fukushima nuclear meltdown that continues to contaminate the planet and our oceans? Why, what a silly idea!
After all, what could I possibly know about sick Sea Stars. Hmmm.
Note: here is a direct link to the Living On Earth 'Sick Sea Stars' feature in case it remains available on this blog: LOE.org.
