Sea Star (star fish) Wasting on Pickering Passage

June 14, 2014: Today's minus 3.6 tide revealed the extent of the starfish die-off on Pickering Passage's intertidal tidelands. Below are pictures from 2013 and pictures from today taken just north of Hammersley Inlet on Pickering Passage. After one year scientists are still unclear what is causing the die-off of Puget Sound's keystone species, something occurring all along the West Coast. (For the University of Washington's Robert Paine's paper on the role of starfish as a keystone species click here.)

June 2013 

Ochre starfish firm, intact, full color.

 

June 2013

Ochre and sun star starfish.

 

June 14, 2014

Ochre legs separated from body.

 

June 14, 2014

Ochre body with missing legs.

 

June 14, 2014

Dead Ochre starfish.

 

A transformation of Puget Sound's ecosystem is occurring before our eyes. Whether it is simply a cyclical die off to be followed by a re-emergence in the near future, or a permanent fixation will be seen. What is important to note is there are changes occurring in Puget Sound and they involve more than simply shellfish.