Photographer Julia Wiese spotted these starfish on the rocks at the Edmonds Marina in front of Anthony’s Beach Cafe Saturday.
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Oh my gosh. thank you Julia, they have been gone for so long. I used to love walking my dog along the boardwalk and look at all of the starfish before they disappeared a few years ago.
This is truly great to see them perhaps coming back. I don’t think the big die off of starfish in the Salish Sea was ever explained, but I remember back in my fishing days they were suddenly just gone. I always thought maybe warmer water was the culprit, but I don’t think that warmer water condition has changed any so must have been something else.
Marine researchers have been studying the abrupt sea star die-off, and theorize it was a fast-spreading virus of some sort.
We walk the Marina often and do a starfish count everytime the tide is low enough to see the rocks below the Anthony’s building. We have noticed a comeback occuring over about the past year…from none or one observed to as many as ten. The purple stars are no longer to be seen, however. There are a few orange stars, and a new gray/blue varigated variety.
The phenomna continues in other places, which can be tracked (and reports filed by observers) here:
https://marine.ucsc.edu/data-products/sea-star-wasting/