Northwest Dive Club

Yes, baby pycno. What location?

Cove 2. Jake Virnig and I saw several very small ones at Mukilteo a couple of weeks ago, too.

We have noticed the baby ones seem to be the only survivers at redondo and three tree. Sunflowers and ochres.

ljjames wrote:There have been some concerning reports of crab, cucumbers and chitons showing up sick or dead. The scientists were hoping that divers could keep their eyes out for any abnormal sightings.

I often hike the loop at Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island. Last week I saw a dozen dead cryptochiton washed up on the beach. It is unusual to see even one.
-Curt

Thank you for the report... Hopefully these chitons were just impacted by the very cold stretch of weather. The way to tell is if the shallow ones are all dead/gone, and past the intertidal they are healthy and of normal density.

At Keystone yesterday I did not walk the beach but underwater all the Gumboots looked healthy. The sea stars too look OK, I found only one arm at the base of the jetty , could not find the rest of the Sunflower star.

The Whidbey Island/dead Cryptochiton thing has happened a number of times in the past- the thought being that they are easily dislodged by winter storms from the small rocks in that area. I think it was Roland Anderson (formerly with the Seattle Aquarium) who looked into this.

Dove my usual site at Ayers Point in southern Hood Canal last night- seastars there are still looking good. Saw lots of Pycnopodia, pinks, and probably more Evasterias than I've ever seen before at that site, some looking like they were getting ready to spawn.

No sure if this was already posted, but the live stream from Vancouver Aquarium last month...

http://www.vanaqua.org/learn/see-and-le ... tars-dying

Mukilteo T-dock is loaded with babies of multiple species. The clay wall? Not so much. Several sick sunflowers.

ljjames wrote:No sure if this was already posted, but the live stream from Vancouver Aquarium last month...

http://www.vanaqua.org/learn/see-and-le ... tars-dying

Thanks for sharing Laura, very interesting video.

If I'm not mistaken, we saw two small sea stars at Cove 2 today, both about 6" across which is a positive change from the last several months. No pics since we were doing a class, and since there were no pics, the smallish GPO resting in the open in about 10 FSW near the north end of the beach didn't happen either!

id just thought i would share that im seeing a bunch of new baby starfish at Mukilteo ... they are not sunflowers, but other types , and they are thriving .. im also seeing a huge growth of urchins at sites around the puget sound.

That is great news! Keep the reports coming!!

Not sure if this is just wishful thinking, but in the nasty viz that was Cove 2 Sunday AM, we did see what I thought were two Morning Sun Stars, each about 6" across. Unfortunately, since we were doing a class, no pics. These were the first sun stars I've seen at Cove 2 in months. Also happened to see a smallish GPO resting between rocks in 10' at the north end, but since there was no pics, that probably didn't happen!

A gentle request...

It was mentioned today by a bystander that some wonderfully enthusiastic freshly made divers from a class out at the coves this past weekend brought up a few baby sea stars. "they are so cute!"

I agree, that they are adorable, but if we could pass on to as many folk as possible (and by folks I mean people certifying new dives and friends of divers that might be tempted) to please please please leave the babies. We are surveying the site regularly and documenting the babies with hopes that they grow and mature to adulthood. There are still stars dying in the area between cove 1 and 2, so we are trying to figure out if the babies are going to be immune or ??? (because whatever it is, is still in the water). Removing the baby stars will impair our ability to accurately document the ongoing changes.

Thanks!!

The Scientists working on this locally need our help! They need some healthy pycnopodia for another round of infectiousness studies, along with some samples from different sites where active wasting is still going on, and star food from those sites (aka mussels and clams).

I'm happy to do the collecting, or meet you to pick up buckets of stars and their lunch and coordination getting them to the labs, but I need to find sites with best 'bang for buck'. the real challenge is going to be finding a site (that isn't in hood canal) which has not been impacted.

They'd like to get the samples this weekend.

Sites on the list for sickies include Mukilteo, Titlow and Alki.

Sites on list for healthy... ?? Hood canal?

There were several healthy adults at Illahee a few weeks ago... Not sure if that meets the bang for the buck criteria though..

I saw some healthy Sunflower stars today at Possession Fingers. But seems like the large ones are gone,
these small ones are moving around in about 20 feet, before the walls begin.
Ten days ago, there were plenty healthy ones at Keystone. Because of winds, I did not dive there
this week.

Thanks Jan and Jeremy!

Do they have good reason to believe that the issue is diet related? Perhaps the little ones having a different diet could explain why the little ones are surviving more?

We saw a medium small one at Redondo yesterday -- not a single adult.

ljjames wrote:The Scientists working on this locally need our help! They need some healthy pycnopodia for another round of infectiousness studies, along with some samples from different sites where active wasting is still going on, and star food from those sites (aka mussels and clams).

I'm happy to do the collecting, or meet you to pick up buckets of stars and their lunch and coordination getting them to the labs, but I need to find sites with best 'bang for buck'. the real challenge is going to be finding a site (that isn't in hood canal) which has not been impacted.

They'd like to get the samples this weekend.

Sites on the list for sickies include Mukilteo, Titlow and Alki.

Sites on list for healthy... ?? Hood canal?

Just dove Sund Rock and the Sunflowers were big, fat, and quite healthy looking!

I don't know that there is a 'good reason', but the idea has been tossed around a few times, and was not ruled out, so now they are going to start doing some tests I LOVE Science!

YellowEye wrote:Do they have good reason to believe that the issue is diet related? Perhaps the little ones having a different diet could explain why the little ones are surviving more?

We saw a medium small one at Redondo yesterday -- not a single adult.

Unfortunately It has been awhile since I did Pt Hudson but the the last time I did it it looked relatively normal with plenty of adults still around. Maybe because of it's location and the way the current flows the toxin, whatever it might be is bypassing Hudson. You might contact Don at Octopus gardens and see if there has been a change in the last month.

There were a decent amount (15-20 ish) of mottled stars at Saltwater State Park today, and one rose star. One baby sunflower in the shallows.

One of the mottled stars looked semi-deflated, the rest looked healthy.

Week of March 10 to 13th. Deception Pass, Keystone and Langley, all have plenty of healthy stars.