As Starfish Die By The Millions, Scientists Scramble For Answers

Up and down the U.S. West coast, from Southern California to Alaska, sea stars — or starfish — are dying by the millions. Drew Harvell, a marine epidemiologist at Cornell University, calls it the largest documented marine epidemic in human history

Scientists call the disease Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, but they aren’t exactly sure what’s causing the die-off. From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Ashley Ahearn of KUOW reports from the San Juan Islands in Washington’s Puget Sound.