Member Talk: Sea Star Rearing

Member Talk recording:
Sea Star Rearing and Genomics

The Academy has been rearing and studying Sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), an important generalist predator essential to keeping California’s kelp forests healthy. The population was devastated by sea star wasting syndrome in 2013, and now Riah Evin, an Academy biologist, and Elora López-Nandam, PhD, a research scientist, are partnering up with institutions across the state to someday reintroduce Sunflower sea stars back into our coast.