Sunflower Sea Star
( Pycnopodia helianthoides
)
The Sunflower Sea Star is a large sea star found in the kelp forests of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The Sunflower Sea Star grows up to 3 ft (1 m) and its color ranges from bright orange, yellow-red to brown, and sometimes even purple. The young Sunflower Sea Star starts life with only five arms, but by adulthood they can grow up to 24 arms in total. Each arm is covered in extremely powerful, tiny suction cups that allow the sea star to maneuver along the ocean floor and other marine terrain. The sea star can easily detach one of these arms to escape a predator and have the arm grow back within a few weeks.
Sunflower Sea Stars are efficient hunters themselves consuming clams, snails, abalone, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins. For prey larger than its mouth the Sunflower Sea Star can extend its stomach outside the mouth to digest the prey. A sunflower star can even swallow an entire sea urchin, digest it internally and then expel the urchin's spikey external shell. Sea urchins have a documented history of destroying kelp forest making the Sunflower Sea Star a keystone species for maintaining the ecosystems balance.
Since 2013, Sunflower Sea Star populations have rapidly declined due to a marine epidemic caused by the sea star wasting disease. One study found a 90.6% decrease in the global population of Sunflower Sea Stars due to the marine epidemic and estimated that up to 5.75 billion sea stars died from the disease. The decline of Sunflower Sea Stars has resulted in a 311% increase in sea urchins and a decrease in kelp forest densities by 30%. Climate change has been linked to the epidemic as the sea star wasting disease is known to be more prevalent and harmful at warmer water temperatures. For these and other reasons the IUCN has listed the Sunflower Sea Star as critically endangered.
To learn more about the Sunflower Sea star and conservation efforts: