Sea Stars Pop Up On California Coast

ORANGE COUNTY, CA -- Sea stars have been found along California's southern coast after dying a few years ago, the Orange County Register reported. It's something that has been seen before and researchers from UC Santa Cruz are trying to determine why.

"In all, from 2013 to 2014, millions of sea stars died, the largest known Sea Star Wasting Syndrome incident on record. The die-off spanned from British Columbia to the shores of Southern California down to Mexico. It was, and is, a mystery," the Register reported. "There were similar die offs in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s..."

There are a few possibilities to explain how sea stars died in the millions but researchers aren't completely sure yet, the newspaper reported.

"Researchers have spent years trying to figure out what caused the Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. Was it warmer-than-normal water temperatures? A team from Cornell University attempted to identify possible viruses and bacteria that might be responsible. It also could have been caused by an infectious agent, such as a pathogen, the report reads," the Register wrote.

--Photo via Pixabay/paulbr75