Northwest Dive Club

Hi
I saw this at Redondo the other day.
A detached sunflower arm, with what looks like eggs on the end of it. Anybody know what's up with this? Are these the eggs of the sunflower star? I assume they won't hatch?

=Eric

Great image... i can forward the image on to the echinoderm specialist i've been chatting with. So the mortality event is ongoing at Redondo? Would you be interested in doing some surveys for the Scientists up at Friday Harbor?

Hi
The seastars at Redondo are starting to die off now too, unfortunately. :(

I'm sure many of us would be interested in helping out any way we can.

Thanks for what you do.

Hi all,
Those are not eggs, but rather the insides (more specifically the gonads and pyloric caeca, whatever that is) of the seastar spilling out. Here is the progression of the disease from Neil McDaniel (and his photos):

Pycnopodia 10 shows this thinning in close-up. Note how distinct the edges of the rays look and how flat the star is. Pycnopodia 21 shows how the body wall begins to rupture, allowing the gonads and pyloric caeca to spill out. Pycnopodia 29 shows the gonads breaking through holes in the body wall. At this point rays often break off and crawl away briefly. Pycnopodia 33 shows a star that has weaken to the point where it has lost its grip on the rocks and fallen to the bottom of a rocky wall. Pycnopodia 15 shows the mat of bacteria at the foot of the walls and rotting stars piled up. Just got a report this evening that it has reached Port Hardy and the seastars there are being affected.

- Janna :(

More details on the parts from Benjamin Miner:

The pink/orange round stuff is gonad, the greyish branching stuff is the pyloric cecum (which is a storage organ and collect directly to the stomach), and near the bottom of the leg where it looks like anemone tentacles is the water vascular system (the tube feet and gills are part of the water vascular system).

Interesting. Thanks for the info!