IN SITU ANALYSIS OF A SEA STAR

WASTING EPISODE IN CARMEL BAY

Ari Freedman
Carmel High School

Abstract
When I became interested in scientific diving, I learned about a current sea star wasting
disease episode plaguing West Coast sea stars and decided to investigate if this disease
was affecting local Asteroids. After preliminary visits to my study sites, the shallow
subtidal and intertidal zones of North Monastery Beach, I observed that two Asteroid
species, Asterina miniata and Dermasterias imbricata, were very resistant to the spread
of the disease, and I hypothesized that collecting more data would substantiate this
observation. On every data-collecting session, my advisor and I would stretch out 30
meter transect lines and tally off every sea star species along the way. I observed signs of
wasting disease at North Monastery Beach in an episode that seemed to be more
stochastic than deterministic in its distribution and lasted two months, from early
December 2013 to late January 2014. I found that Pycnopodia helianthoides was the first
species to be affected, then Pisaster ochraceus, and Pisaster giganteus was the last
species to experience die-offs. Asterina sp. and Dermasterias sp. showed hardly any
signs of mortality. The distribution of wasting disease seems to be more stochastic than
deterministic geographically and on a species level. The other species of stars I studied
were not numerous enough to lead to any reliable conclusions. Thus, my hypothesis was
strongly supported, leading to questions for further study, such as documenting sea star
recovery from wasting disease and investigating the scientific reason behind the
resistance to wasting disease of Asterina sp. and Dermasterias sp.

Introduction
In reference to the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, Ed Rickets, a biologist and good friend of
John Steinbeck, once said that anything that can damage this thoroughly tough animal,
short of the acts of God referred to in insurance policies, deserves respectful mention
(Ricketts and Calvin 215). Thus, it is quite dramatic to see up to 95 percent of [this]
particular species of sea star in some tide pool populations essentially melt in front of
you (Widespread starfish deaths reported on West Coast).
Sea star wasting disease is a cyclical event that effects sea stars along the Pacific coast. A
large outbreak of it has recently occurred over a widespread range, from Alaska to
Southern California, and though it began during this past Summer, 2013, media reports
covering this wasting phenomenon only came to my attention last November.
During last summer, I decided to get certified for Open Water Diver, the most basic
SCUBA diving certification, for simply recreational purposes. It was only when school
started that year that my physics teacher, Mike Guardino, mentioned that he
could take me diving locally and teach me the basics of scientific diving. So on
subsequent dives, Mike taught me the fundamentals of scientific navigation and
sampling, including finding study sites using a compass, the calibration of kick
cycles, and sampling using line transects and square and circular quadrats. This
went on until November 10, when an article in the Monterey Herald caught my
eye, entitled Widespread Starfish Deaths Reported on West Coast. In it, the
article raised the issue of sea star wasting disease suddenly erupting in starfish
An ochre star afflicted with
from Alaska to Southern California usually affect[ing] one species, Pisaster
wasting disease in North
ochraceus.
With this in mind, I practiced my sampling techniques that day at
Monastery Beachs intertidal
zone
North Monastery Beach on just P. ochraceus and its close relative P. giganteus,
instead of sampling other species of stars like we had previously been doing. Although I
saw no stars that were wasting that day, I noticed that there had been a significant decline
in both species, especially P. ochraceus, and presumed that it was due to wasting. The
fact that this was a serious current and local biological problem suggested that this would
make an excellent opportunity for a science fair project, so I decided to study the wasting
problem in more depth at my study site of North Monastery Beach.
Over the next several dives, Mike and I resumed sampling in the same consistent manner,
using 30m transect lines parallel to the shore, but opening the surveys up to more local
species. And although I still saw no wasting disease on these dives, I recorded significant
declines in other species in addition to P. ochraceus, commonly known as ochre stars. In
fact, it seemed that the only sea stars not afflicted with the die-offs were bat stars
(Asterina miniata) and leather stars (Dermasterias imbricata). That is not to say that
these two species never showed signs of wasting, but compared to some of the more
affected stars, like sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), bat and leather stars were
hardly touched. So I decided to make it the goal of my project to get as large a sample
size as possible in order to support the claim that there is some biological aspect of these
two stars that sets them apart from the curve. I knew that to find out the cause would be
impossible, since not even the worlds top scientists had yet been able to discover the
main cause of the disease itself.
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The data I collected fell into two categories: pre-wasting and post-wasting. Even though
there was already wasting disease present, I called everything from before November 30
pre-wasting to signify that the peak of mortality had not yet hit. After this, a long hiatus
of diving for my project ensued, which was broken on December 27 when Mike went
diving solo (I did not go since I was sick) and recorded the peak of the wasting episode at
Monastery Beach. So all of the data including and after this date became known as postwasting, ending on January 25. Since on my first two dives for this project, I was able to
finish 3 and then 4 transects, I made it a norm to collect data in chunks of 7 transects. I
was able to only do 1 group of 7 pre-wasting transects, but in the post-wasting time
range, I completed 2 groups of 7 transects. Thus, I successfully sampled subtidal
Asteroids on 6 occasions. Although I initially went on 7 data-collecting dives, the last
one, on January 26, 2014, turned out to lead to unscientific data due to various
complications and I had to omit its results from my project.
I also translated these same procedures into intertidal studies at Monastery. To make the
subtidal and intertidal study sites as close together as possible, I did all of my diving in
the very shallow subtidal, no deeper than 6m, and made sure that my intertidal site was
right next to this. I also made sure to do exactly 7 transects on both of my intertidal visits,
one pre-wasting and the other post-wasting. However, the intertidal data does not really
transfer into the area of my project, which is to demonstrate the resistance of bat and
leather stars, since there are almost none of these species present in the intertidal. Instead,
the intertidal zone at Monastery is rife with ochre stars, in which I saw a large
progression of wasting. However, I was not able to draw any rigorous conclusions from
this intertidal data, or from data that I collected in Monterey Bay Aquariums Kelp Forest
Exhibit, because I only collected data from each of these places on two occasions, and
have no baseline data to compare either of them to. I was also able to get access to
PISCO (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans) subtidal data from
Monastery from past years to use as baseline data. Even though it was taken from South,
instead of North, Monastery, there is not much geographic difference between these two
locations. I also had to manually omit all of the data taken from transects deeper than 6m
before averaging it out, since 6m is the deepest depth from which my data was collected.
I used this baseline data as a control group with which to compare my own data, so as to
better evaluate the effects of wasting disease on various species.
I was able to show the there was a major wasting episode occurring at North Monastery
and that something was definitely allowing bat and leather stars to resist the full effects of
wasting. It was especially curious to see bat stars feeding on other wasted stars, but
despite this direct contact with the disease, the bat stars still went away unharmed. I came
up with hypotheses as to the nature of this resistance, but I will have to
save these as questions for further study. With the limited knowledge of
the situation and my own lack of experience, I was unable to determine
the causes behind either of these phenomena. While I learned a lot
about sea star wasting disease, in reality I came away with more
questions than answers. One important question that I could study next
is how juvenile recruitment helps to bring sea star densities back to
their baseline levels in the absence of wasting disease.
A ray that fell off of a wasting giant
star in the subtidal zone

Background Information
To understand more about the nature of sea star wasting disease, it is important to have
knowledge of some of the more general characteristics of sea stars. Sea stars are also
known colloquially as starfish, but since they are not fish in any sense of the word, I will
refer to them only as sea stars. Sea stars are a group of organisms belonging to the class
Asteroidea. Asteroidea in turn belongs to the phylum Echinodermata, whose members are
categorized as pentaradially symmetric marine invertebrates. There are approximately
7,000 extant species of Echinoderms, falling into 5 classes: Asteroidea (sea stars),
Ophiuroidea (brittle stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars), Holothuroidea (sea
cucumbers), and Crinoidea (feather stars and sea lilies).
Out of the estimated 1,500 species of extant sea star species, most have pentaradial
symmetry, with five rays radiating from a central disc. However, many species regularly
have more, such as Leptasterias hexactis, with 6 rays, and Pycnopodia helianthoides,
which usually has anywhere from 16 to 24 rays. Irregularities in development can also
cause stars to grow extra rays, or to develop fewer than normal. For example, though
Asterina miniata normally has five rays, they occasionally have as many as nine (Bat
Star). Sea stars are opportunistic feeders that eat by bringing their stomach out of their
mouth, which is located on the bottom of the star. Because of this, the bottom side is
referred to as the oral side and the top is called the aboral side. Each ray has a groove
going down the middle of the ray on the oral side, called the ambulacral groove.
Distributed along these grooves are hundreds of tiny tube feet, which are used for suction
to clamp the star onto surfaces and for locomotion, which is generally very slow. Since
sea stars lack blood, the circulation of dissolved gases and nutrients throughout their body
is instead carried out with their water vascular system. This system takes water in through
the madreporite, a small hole located on the aboral side of the central disc, and sends it
through various canals around the central disc and down all of the rays to each and every
tube foot. Reproduction in sea stars is usually done through broadcast spawning, in which
the sperm and eggs are distributed into the water column. However, certain species, like
Leptasterias hexactis, brood their young, which leads to more localized populations.
Another aspect of sea star anatomy that is present in most species is the pedicellaria.
Pedicellariae are small claw-shaped structures found on both the oral and aboral surfaces
that help clean microscopic debris off the stars skin gills and keep the planktonic larvae
of sessile organisms from landing on the star. However, some species completely lack
pedicellariae, such as Asterina miniata and Dermasterias imbricata, as well as all
members of the order Spinulosida. Since these stars do not have pedicellariae to keep
themselves clean, there are various other ways that they prevent settlement of fouling
organisms, such as with microscopic cilia or chemical defenses. Sea stars are very
important organisms to study because they are keystone predators, due to the wide
variety of their diets, from scavenging to all-out predation.
Sea stars and other echinoderms seem especially vulnerable to epidemics of microbial
diseases, and instances of mass die-offs with the spread of disease are well documented
(Robles 167). One major and fairly current example of this is sea star wasting disease, a
general description of a set of symptoms that are found in sea stars (Raimondi).
4

The symptoms of this disease are very diverse, but most notably, affected stars show
lesions in their tissue that spread from the rays to the central disc, causing necrosis and
eventually death. Also, wasting stars can be seen with their rays crossed, an unusual
behavior for sea stars, usually as a way of covering these lesions. It seems that the disease
hinders the sea stars ability to regenerate its rays, causing it to gradually melt away. This
whole process occurs over the span of just a few days. Though no one has yet been able
to pinpoint one universal causal agent of the disease, bacteria of the genus Vibrio have
been shown to be involved in most cases on the West Coast. However, in other cases, it is
a virus that seems to cause the disease. It is generally speculated by authorities that an
afflicted star does not die of wasting disease itself, but of a secondary infection that is
able to infect the star only once it has been compromised by wasting disease.
From past records, the onset of disease is associated with increased temperature
(Robles 167). Thus, large historical events from 1983-84 and 1997-98 have both
overlapped with El Nio events that caused warm water cycles. As of this last summer,
2013, the Pacific coast of the United States has experienced an episode of wasting
disease that is particularly troubling because of its spatial extent (Raimondi). This
episode, first noticed in Seattle, Washington, ranges from as far north as Alaska down to
Southern California, however, instead of hitting everywhere along the coast all at once, it
has started in the northern part of its range and gradually moved southward. Although at
first it seemed like just Pisaster ochraceus was affected, it soon became evident that most
other species of stars suffered as well, with seemingly only Asterina miniata and
Dermasterias imbricata being somewhat resistant. Just like previous wasting outbreaks
along this coast, little is known about the reason behind this epidemic, but it is certainly
puzzling that there was no warm water cycle that seemed to correlate to it. Instead, some
people have proposed that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima could have put radiation in
the water that spread to the East Pacific by way of the North Pacific Gyre. However, this
seems not to be the case, since the radiation is due to arrive later this year, and when it
does, it probably will be too diluted to lead to mass mortalities of sea stars (Sahagun).
The fact that no other marine organisms have been affected outside of Asteroidea also
refutes the possibility of radiation. It is known that the disease is transmitted through the
water column and that sea stars get infected when the pathogen gets passed through their
water vascular system, but this still does not explain why other echinoderms that also
have water vascular systems would not be affected by this disease.
Although there has been a general trend of wasting disease moving southward during this
current episode, it has been very patchy over space and time. For example, wasting was
noticed at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey Bay at least two months before it hit my
study site at Monastery Beach. Even before manifesting itself there, wasting episodes
jumped down to points farther south.
Overall, this current episode of wasting disease has posed many more questions than
answers, humbling top authorities on the subject. Even in my own experience, I have
heard some of these leading authorities, including Dr. Pete Raimondi, Dr. David
Kushner, Dr. James Watanabe, Dr. John Pearse, and Dr. Sarah Cohen, admit openly that
wasting disease has left them mystified in many respects.

When sampling sea stars for my project, I chose to focus on the ten most common sea
stars at North Monastery Beach, my study site in Carmel Bay. Here is a bit of information
on each of them and how they relate to wasting disease:
Asterina miniata: Also called the bat star because of the webbing
between its rays, they lack pedicellariae and are, by far, the most
ubiquitous star in the subtidal zone, but are sparse in the intertidal.
Although they scavenge on other wasted stars, they seem to be the most
resistant to wasting disease.
Pycnopodia helianthoides: Its common name is the sunflower star due to
its many rays and giant size, making it the largest star in the world. In
this area, they are common, voracious predators and one of the first
species to die-off from wasting disease.
Henricia leviuscula: The Pacific blood star, named for its red hue, is
thought to actually be a species complex, rather than just one clear-cut
species. It is the only local star of the order Spinulosida that I studied,
and thus lacks pedicellariae, however, it is too uncommon to conclude
how it reacts to wasting disease.
Dermasterias imbricata: This is known as the leather star because of its
smooth texture. They also lack pedicellariae and are the only other star
found locally that showed obvious resistance to wasting disease. They
are relatively common in the subtidal, but less abundant in the intertidal.
Orthasterias koehleri: Its common name, the rainbow star, comes from
its variety of hues of yellow to pink. It was a prime target for wasting,
making it almost impossible to find after the onset of the wasting event.
Pisaster ochraceus: By far the most abundant species in the intertidal,
this star, commonly known as the ochre star because of one of its color
morphs, is found only in the very shallow subtidal. It showed signs of
wasting disease early on, and because it is the most conspicuous of the
open-coast animals, it was the first species with wasting to catch the
publics eye (Rickets and Calvin 214).
Pisaster giganteus: This close relative to the ochre star, commonly
called the giant star due to its large size, is fairly common subtidally,
however not intertidally, and showed the most conspicuous signs of
wasting subtidally in this area.

Pisaster brevispinus: This is the giant pink star, scientifically named for
its short spines and is closely related to the ochre and giant stars. It is too
uncommon in this area to draw any conclusions on how it reacted to
wasting disease, but it seemed to have been wiped out by it.
Mediaster aequalis: This star is sometimes called the vermillion sea star
because of its rich, consistent color. It is one of the only local stars
belonging to order Valvatida, along with Asterina miniata and
Dermasterias imbricata, but is too rare to conclude how it reacted to
wasting disease.
Leptasterias hexactis: Just like Henricia sp., the six-rayed sea star has
been proposed to be a species complex due to its localized populations,
caused by being the only species in this area to brood its young. Though
they are relatively common, their small size and cryptic coloration make
them very tough to find, and consequently, to draw conclusions about
their vulnerability to wasting disease.

The following cladogram demonstrates the phylogenetic relationship between these

species and other echinoderms.
Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Hypothesis
I hypothesize that a sea star wasting episode of finite duration will occur at North
Monastery Beach, and that some species will be more vulnerable than others. From my
preliminary surveys, I suspect that Asterina miniata and Dermasterias imbricata will be
the most resistant to this wasting episode.

Materials
Subtidal (North Monastery Beach):

SCUBA gear
Transect tape measure (at least 30m long)
2 metal measuring sticks cut off at exactly 1m
2 blank data tables printed on Rite in the Rain All-Weather Writing Paper
2 underwater slates
2 Cretacolor graphite sticks
Underwater camera (PENTAX Optio WG-2)

Intertidal (North Monastery Beach):

Transect tape measure

2 metal measuring sticks cut off at exactly 1m
2 blank data tables printed on Rite in the Rain All-Weather Paper
2 clipboards
2 rubber bands to hold papers to clipboards
Several pencils (in case one gets lost)
Underwater camera (in case it gets wet)

Aquarium (Monterey Bay Aquarium):

Surveying the Kelp Forest Exhibit

o MBA volunteer diver status
o SCUBA gear (see subtidal materials for more detail)
o Blank piece of Rite in the Rain All-Weather Writing Paper
o Underwater slates
o Cretacolor graphite stick
Surveying the touch pools
o Blank data table printed on regular paper
o Clipboard
o Rubber band
o Pencil
o Camera (iPhone)

Intertidal surveying setup, with

transect line, clipboard, and metal
meter sticks

Procedures
Subtidal (North Monastery Beach):
1. Get in the ocean, swim along the edge of the kelp forest, and drop down at around 3m
depth.
2. Stretch out the 30m measuring tape parallel to shore for use as a transect line.
3. For each transect, two people swim along the transect line, each on one side, holding
the 1m metal measuring stick perpendicular to the line to count all of the stars within
a meter of it, tallying them off on the data table along the way with the graphite stick.
4. Once at the end of the transect line, roll it back up and swim to a nearby location to
start another transect parallel to the shore.
5. Finish anywhere from 2 to 5 transect lines on one dive depending on air capacity, and
making sure to finish a total of 7 transects on consecutive dives.
6. Along the way, take pictures with an underwater camera of
wasted stars and healthy stars for comparison.
7. Once out of the water, create a dive log to record the technical
aspects of the dive, then transfer the star counts from the data
tables into Microsoft Excel, adding up the tallies from both
divers data tables.
Intertidal (North Monastery Beach):

Investigator demonstrating subtidal transect

procedure

1. Stretch out the 30m measuring tape along the edge of the
intertidal to use as a transect line.
2. At the end of each transect line, roll it back it up and start another where the previous
one ended.
3. Finish 7 transects in one visit, since air is not a limiting factor.
4. Along the way, take pictures with an underwater camera of wasted stars and healthy
stars for comparison.
5. Later, create a tidepooling log to record the technical aspects of the excursion, then
transfer the star counts from the data tables into Microsoft Excel, adding up the tallies
from both peoples data tables.
Aquarium (Monterey Bay Aquarium):

One person surveys MBAs Kelp Forest Exhibit

1. Divide the blank piece of underwater paper into sections of Sand, Rock Reef,
and Walls/Windows/Ledges.
2. Fasten the data table on waterproof paper into the underwater slate.
3. Enter the Kelp Forest Exhibit, and after fulfilling maintenance duties, swim
around the exhibit and, with the graphite stick, tally off every bat star into one of
the three mentioned categories based on where they were found, and any other
species of star gets tallied on the side regardless of its location.
4. Along the way, hold wasted stars up to glass for the person outside surveying the
touch pools to take pictures of.
5. After getting permission from MBA to use their data, enter into Microsoft Excel
9

Another person surveys MBAs upstairs and downstairs touch pools.

1. Mark one column on the data table as the upstairs touch pool and another column
as the downstairs touch pool.
2. Put the data table on regular paper into the clipboard, and fasten the bottom of it
with a rubber band.
3. Starting at the upstairs touch pool, walk around it and carefully tally every star
onto the data table under the upstairs touch pool column.
4. Go to the downstairs touch pool and do the same procedure, only tallying on the
column for the downstairs touch pool.
5. Along the way, take pictures of stars in the touch pools and the wasted stars that
the person surveying the Kelp Forest Exhibit holds up to the glass.

Results
From the various graphs displayed in my report, one can draw numerous conclusions
relating to sea star wasting disease for five of the species I studied subtidally. The other
five species I investigated (Henricia leviuscula, Orthasterias koehleri, Pisaster
brevispinus, Mediaster aequalis, and Leptasterias hexactis) were too uncommon or
obscure to begin with at North Monastery Beach for comparison with the baseline data to
yield any conclusive statements about them. It is important to note that the relative peak
of wasting overall was noticed on December 27, 2013, and everything before this peak is
referred to as pre-wasting, while everything afterwards is post-wasting. Before delving
into the details of these graphs, it is also necessary to go over how each was derived and
their significance, noting that all densities referred to are over an area of 60m2, the
sample area of the transects done for this project.

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Analysis
Asterina miniata:
Looking at Graph 1, it is made obvious that Asterina miniata clearly was not affected
adversely by wasting in the timeframe studied. On the contrary, they showed a significant
increase, from an average density of 14 to 53.33, an increase of nearly 4 times. However,
Graph 2 shows that the densities go from a meager 31.78% to 121.07% of the baseline for
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Asterina sp. This shows that it is not the end result that is significantly high, but rather the
beginning that is significantly low. Analyzing Graph 3 shows that in comparison with
some of the other species, the progression of Asterina sp. is not actually very spread out
in relation to its universal average, meaning that this seemingly enormous increase is not
actually very unusual. Graph 5 demonstrates that the growth of this species is a fairly
linear progression, since the beginning and end are similar distances away from the
universal average, which falls around the middle of the time period. Graph 5 also
supports the fact that Asterina sp. did not start out very numerous compared to its
baseline and breached the baseline very late in the duration of the study. All of these
pieces of information suggest that for some reason, numbers of this species started out
initially low, and then thrived as a result of the wasting disease. However, this initial low
point could not have been caused by wasting disease, since it was outside of the duration
of the North Monastery episode. Graph 4 supports this by showing that at the peak of
wasting near the end of December, 2013, only 10.08% of stars were affected, while
Pisaster spp. were not so fortunate. The Aquarium data is perhaps the largest supporter of
the claim that Asterina sp. is almost resistant to wasting disease. In the Kelp Forest
Exhibit, a normally diverse arrangement of Asteroids, there were 172 Asterina sp. and
only 4 stars of other species on December 21, 2013, and on January 11, 2014, there were
182 Asterina sp. and only 2 stars of everything else. The numbers of Asterina sp. stayed
fairly normal for this exhibit, while everything else became extraordinarily scarce as a
result of maintenance divers having to constantly pull wasted stars out of the exhibit.
Pycnopodia helianthoides:
Graph 1 certainly gives a dismal first impression for the numbers of Pycnopodia
helianthoides, with all of the densities 0 except for those from the first two days. It is not
truly apparent just how significant this number of 2.33 is until it is compared with the
baseline for Pycnopodia sp. Graph 2 does this by showing that the density of 2.33 on the
first day is 277.38% of the baseline average, almost 3 times as much. Graph 3
accomplishes a similar task, but in a much more dramatic way, showing this first density
to be the most unusual number of all the data, with a tremendous 613.16% of its universal
average from my data. This large number implies that the universal average of the data
for Pycnopodia sp. is relatively small, taking into account all of the 0 entries for its
density. Therefore, this shows that this species had a speedy, significant decline, perhaps
the most so of any of the species studied. The line for Pycnopodia sp. is invisible in
Graph 4, due to all of the 0 entries and the division by zero that arises from using this
graphs formula. This suggests that there was so much wasting in this species, that they
just disappeared. Graph 6 nicely exhibits the shape of the steady decline that occurred
with this species in response to wasting, and shows that, first date aside, the densities of
Pycnopodia sp. are consistently far below its baseline number.

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Dermasterias imbricata:
As for Dermasterias imbricata, Graph 1 is not very helpful, other than showing that this
star is the most common aside from Asterina miniata. It is not until comparing
Dermasterias sp. with its baseline number in Graph 2 that it becomes apparent just how
significant their densities were, as much as 9 times greater at one point. These high
percentages come from the fact that the historical baseline average for Dermasterias sp.
is so low, only .84, which is the same as the baseline for Pycnopodia sp. Comparing the
two species on this graph thus shows just how much better off Dermasterias sp. was than
Pycnopodia sp. throughout this wasting episode. Though Graph 2 may make the densities
of Dermasterias sp. look rather spread out and sporadic, Graph 3 shows that, along with
Asterina sp., its distribution is the most stable and compact compared with its universal
average. However, unlike Asterina sp., no correlation can be made with Dermasterias sp.
showing that it steadily increased as a result of wasting, as is made apparent by the
enlarged shape of its distribution shown in Graph 2. Graph 4 shows that very few stars of
this species were wasted, with the most being 7.89% during the wasting peak, even less
than that of Asterina sp. As a result of not suffering from wasting disease, Graph 7
illustrates that the densities of Dermasterias sp. were consistently higher than its baseline.
Pisaster ochraceus:
Graph 1 shows that Pisaster ochraceus was the least common of all the subtidal stars
shown in these graphs. However, this is to be more or less expected, since P. ochraceus is
primarily an intertidal species and is relatively scarce in the intertidal, especially at depths
deeper than 6m. Thus, its baseline number is also very small, only .21 stars per 60m2.
However, Graphs 2 and 8 show that just like Pycnopodia sp., Pisaster ochraceus was
always lower than this baseline except on the first day. But unlike Pycnopodia sp.,
Pisaster ochraceus did not have a nice steady decline, but instead was very sporadic and
relatively spread out, as is shown by Graph 3. The jumpiness of the distributions of P.
ochraceus is attributed more than anything to its rarity in the subtidal. Instead, the
intertidal data is more valuable in showing the affect of wasting on P. ochraceus. Not
only did the average intertidal density of P. ochraceus decrease from 5.29 on November
30, 2013 to 2.71 on December 29, 2014, but on these same two days, the average percent
of wasting rose from 0% to 15.79%, with many other wasted stars seen on the second day
off-transect.
Pisaster giganteus:
Just looking at Graph 1, it seems that Pisaster giganteus followed a very similar trend to
Dermasterias sp. in its densities over time. However, compared with their baseline data,
P. giganteus did not even come close to Dermasterias sp., as is shown in Graph 2. And
unlike P. ochraceus, P. giganteus is normally more abundant in the subtidal, with a
baseline average of 3.95 stars per 60m2. Graphs 2 and 9 both show that despite a low data
point on the first day of sampling, P. giganteus started out right around the baseline, and
21

then plummeted below the baseline for the rest of the duration of the disease. The small
increase shown on the last day in Graph 9 could possibly show signs of recovery, but is
more likely just due to the error involved in sampling any star species. It could also be
due to the fact that wasting disease caused the populations of P. giganteus to be relatively
unstable, as is shown in Graph 3. Perhaps the largest piece of evidence that correlates the
decline of P. giganteus with wasting disease is shown in Graph 4. Not only does the
percentage of wasting show a steep and fairly linear increase in P. giganteus over time,
but it even reaches 100% on January 18, 2014, the only species to do so. The fact that
despite this dramatic showing of wasting disease, P. giganteus did not show as marked of
a decline as P. ochraceus or Pycnopodia sp. suggests that P. giganteus probably takes a
longer time to die as a result of wasting disease than do these other species.
Conclusion
After thoroughly analyzing the data collected at North Monastery Beach, I found that my
hypothesis concerning the relative resistance of Asterina miniata and Dermasterias
imbricata to sea star wasting disease was strongly supported. Pycnopodia helianthoides,
Pisaster ochraceus, Pisaster giganteus, on the other hand, suffered major declines as a
result of wasting disease, with the die-offs occurring roughly in the order just mentioned.
The wasting episode fell fairly accurately within the timeframe I studied, from November
25, 2013 to January 25, 2014, with the wasting peak for most species (except for Pisaster
giganteus) recorded right in the middle, on December 27, 2013.
This duration of roughly 2 months seems to be consistent with wasting episode durations
from other places, such as Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey, California and Seattle,
Washington. Since the disease was seen much earlier in Seattle and Alaska and still has
not been noticed down south in the Channel Islands off of Santa Barbara, it seems that
wasting disease has been moving generally south, probably in accordance with the North
Pacific Gyre.
On a more specific scale, however, the spread of wasting seems to be more patchy. For
example, after wasting disease first showed up at Hopkins Marine Station north of
Monastery Beach, it initially skipped over Monastery, instead manifesting itself in Jade
Cove 60 miles to the south before arriving at Monastery a month later. Rather than being
completely deterministic, wasting disease is more stochastic in its distribution. Even on a
species level, there are always some individuals that will be infected with wasting and
then others that stay completely healthy. Since wasting disease is so stochastic in its
nature, it is impossible to run categorical statistical analyses on my data, such as a chisquare test. Also, since the average densities of some stars are so low, the expected values
derived from a chi-square test are too low to yield accurate statistical results.

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Although my data led to fairly conclusive results, there were many possible error sources
that were not within my control to resolve. First of all, there is always a lot of error
involved in sampling sea stars, or any life form. For example, in Monterey Bay
Aquariums Kelp Forest Exhibit, the number of Asterina miniata rose from 172 on
December 21, 2013 to 182 on January 11, 2014. Since no new stars were added to the
exhibit between these dates, the variability must come from stars hiding in crevices along
the exhibits fake rock walls. Also, some sea stars, like Leptasterias hexactis and
Henricia leviuscula are so small and cryptic in coloration that it takes intense scrutiny to
find them.
The PISCO baseline data I utilized also may have its faults. For one, the people who
collected it may have deployed different or inconsistent techniques from those that I
utilized. Also, many of their transects were taken at locations much deeper than mine.
Taking the averages of the beginning and end depths for each of my transects, I found
that the deepest of mine was 6m, so I took out all of the PISCO transects that were deeper
than 6m to make it more controlled. However, on average, their transects were still a lot
deeper, since their shallowest one was at 4.6m, whereas mine was shallowest at 3m. This
discrepancy explains why their numbers for Asterina miniata (a deep water species) are
so high in relation to mine and why their numbers for Pycnopodia helianthoides, Pisaster
ochraceus, Pisaster giganteus, and especially Dermasterias imbricata (all shallow
subtidal species) are so low. A possible reason the great increase of Asterina sp. over the
wasting duration may have come from the observation that they scavenge on wasted
stars, giving them a more abundant food source. Another minor discrepancy in the
PISCO data may have come from the fact that their two sampling areas came from South
Monastery, whereas mine were all done at North Monastery, 300m to the north. As for
intertidal and Aquarium baseline data, I was not able to get access to these, which
disallowed me from drawing scientific conclusions from my data at these locations
In the future, there are many new directions I could take to continue my research on
wasting disease. One obvious follow-up to documenting the decline of sea star
populations due to wasting disease would be to document their recovery over an extended
period of time and note how sea star populations return to baseline conditions. If I were
to take up on this, then I could also measure levels of juvenile recruitment and note how
this contributes to the stars recoveries. Another research question that arises would be to
search for the cause of wasting disease, however, this is probably out of my scope,
especially since top authorities still have not been able to isolate a cause and I am far
away from even being eligible for a collecting permit. Likewise, trying to scientifically
prove what the reason behind the resistance of Asterina miniata and Dermasterias
imbricata to wasting disease would be equally difficult. However, I have come up with a
few speculations as to why this resistance exists. One attribute that sets these two species
apart is their phylogeny, namely that they are the only stars, along with Mediaster
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aequalis, that belong to the order Valvatida. It is possible that there is some characteristic
that all members of Valvatida share that is absent in all other orders of starfish, and this
characteristic may lead to a resistance to wasting disease. If this were the case, then
Mediaster sp. should also be resistant to wasting disease, however, they are too
uncommon in this area to determine if they are. Another possibility could come from the
fact that Asterina sp. and Dermasterias sp. are the only local species, along with Henricia
leviuscula, that lack pedicellariae. Thus, as a replacement mechanism for fending off
fouling organisms, these species may use chemical defenses that other species do not
have which may help them resist wasting disease. Again, if this were true, then Henricia
sp. should also show resistance to wasting disease, but they are too hard to find to prove
or disprove this hypothesis. As has been a common phenomenon when studying wasting
disease, my project has led to far more questions than answers.
Acknowledgements
Along the way, I received assistance and guidance from many people, all of whom I am
indebted to. The most thanks goes to Mike Guardino for bringing me up to the level of
scientific diving. In the past, he taught a class on Subtidal Marine Research at Carmel
High School, and during the summer, he dives for the National Park Service at the
Channel Islands. He took me diving and tidepooling on numerous occasions, each time
getting me the proper equipment and filling up
the SCUBA tanks. Since it is standard protocol
to never dive alone, I dove and collected all of
my data in conjunction with him. He only
collected data without me for the purposes of my
project twice, both times because I was sick. He
drove me to our dive and intertidal sites, once to
Santa Cruz, and a few times to the Monterey Bay
Aquarium. At the Aquarium, he took me behind
the exhibits, since he volunteers there, and he
surveyed all of the stars in the Kelp Forest
Exhibit two times, since I am not certified to
dive in the Aquarium. My parents helped me out
in buying me an underwater camera and by
driving me to Mr. Guardinos house, My dad
also connected me with marine biologists who
aided me in deciding the aim of my research and helped in formatting my display board.
Dr. Dave Kushner, who runs the marine lab at Channel Islands National Park, gave me
the idea that wasting is a cyclical event from which sea stars will always recover. Mike
drove me up to Santa Cruz to talk with Dr. Pete Raimondi, who is tackling the wasting
problem from USCSs Long Marine Lab, and he confirmed a lot of the effects of wasting

From left to right: Dr. James Watanabe, investigator, and Dr. John
Pearse. This image was taken at Hopkins Marine Station next to Dr.
Watanabes lab.

24

that I had been seeing. He also suggested that I could study the resistance of bat and
leather stars, and, like all of the other scientists I conferred with, admitted that there are
many more question than answers pertaining to wasting disease. Dr. Sarah Cohen from
UCSF suggested that I could look at the effects of wasting on the brooding populations of
Leptasterias spp. Dr. James Watanabe and Dr. John Pearse at Stanfords Hopkins Marine
Station told me that I could study the duration of wasting and how that changes
geographically. I also thank Dr. Watanabe for allowing me to use pictures from his
website in my Background Information. Emily Saarman at Long Marine Lab was
immensely helpful in sending me PISCO baseline data to use as a control to compare my
own data to. And lastly, George Tattersfield helped me construct and statistically analyze
the graphical representations of my data.
Works Cited
"Bat Star." Animals and Experiences. Monterey Bay Aquarium, 2014. Web. 02 Mar.
2014.
Gong, Allison. "A Plague of Stars." Web log post. Notes from a California Naturalist.
WordPress, 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Hoppin, Jason. "Sea Stars Wasting Away." The Monterey County Herald 17 Nov. 2013:
n. pag. Print.
Raimondi, Pete. "Pacific Rocky Intertidal Monitoring: Trends and Synthesis." Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology. UCSC, 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Ricketts, Edward Flanders, and Jack Calvin. Between Pacific Tides. Stanford, CA:
Stanford UP, 1968. Print.
Robles, Carlos. "Pisaster ochraceus." Starfish: Biology and Ecology of the Asteroidea.
Ed. John M. Lawrence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Sahagun, Louis. "Study to Look out for Radioactive Kelp." The Monterey County Herald
17 Jan. 2014: n. pag. Print.
Turner, Richard L. "Echinaster." Starfish: Biology and Ecology of the Asteroidea. Ed.
John M. Lawrence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Watanabe, James M. "Asteroidea." SeaNet. Stanford, 10 Oct. 2009. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
"Widespread Starfish Deaths Reported on West Coast." The Monterey County Herald 10
Nov. 2013: n. pag. 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Zubi, Teresa. "Echinoderms (Starfish, Brittle Star, Sea Urchin, Feather Star, Sea
Cucumber)." Starfish. N.p., 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Picture Credits for Background Information: James Watanabe, Hopkins Marine Station

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