• Unknown Disease Forces Starfish to LITERALLY Rip Themselves Apart
    53 replies, posted
[quote]Reports have since surfaced from Southern California to as far north as Alaska. At first, only a certain species known as the sunflower star seemed to be affected. Then it hit another species, then another. In all, about a dozen species of sea stars are dying along the West Coast. It’s been coined sea star wasting syndrome, and it’s also been reported at sites along the East Coast. But researchers say it’s too early to connect these outbreaks. BEN MINER, Biology Professor, Western Washington University: You know, I was surprised, too, that the crabs weren’t just… KATIE CAMPBELL: Ben Miner is a biology professor at Western Washington University. He studies how environmental changes affect marine life. Today, his team is collecting sea stars at Mukilteo, Washington, just north of Seattle. BEN MINER: The population of sea stars is — they were quite abundant at that site. And so on the pilings, there were healthy sea stars, but we were also coming across arms and piles of deteriorated sea stars and individuals that were twisted. KATIE CAMPBELL: The divers are searching for stars showing symptoms, as well as the ones that appear healthy. BEN MINER: The experiments are infectiousness experiments, where we take individuals that have signs of the syndrome and we put them in tanks with individuals that don’t have signs. KATIE CAMPBELL: Then they closely watch the progress of the disease. First, the stars twist their arms into knots, and sometimes lesions form on their skin. BEN MINER: One of them was very sick, and the other two individuals started ripping themselves apart. The arms just crawl away from the particular body. KATIE CAMPBELL: You heard that right. The arms crawl in opposite directions, until they tear away from the body and their insides spill out. And unlike most starfish, the arms don’t regenerate. Stars that came in with symptoms died within 24 hours.[/quote] Forgive the format, but it's a video in the source: [url]http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mysterious-epidemic-devastates-starfish-population-pacific-coast/[/url]
Won't long now until it spreads to humans since we're so biologically similar [sp]not true[/sp]
what the fuck that's so hardcore, but then again what the fuck
[QUOTE=Dr.C;43742663]Won't long now until it spreads to humans since we're so biologically similar [sp]not true[/sp][/QUOTE] Well, I'd hope my arms don't twist themselves so much they rip off my body and all my insides spill out. Like holy shit this sounds like an awful way to die.
Poor patrick.
Aren't sea stars severely overpopulated anyway? Or was that problem fixed in the past couple years.
Why is the video just audio? I can't for the life of me get it to work. Is it supposed to be just plain audio?
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;43742768]Aren't sea stars severely overpopulated anyway? Or was that problem fixed in the past couple years.[/QUOTE] I think they're still overpopulated. I feel like this is some weird type of parasite yet I'm pretty sure the scientists would've figured that out by now if it was.
[QUOTE=Katatonic717;43742783]Why is the video just audio? I can't for the life of me get it to work. Is it supposed to be just plain audio?[/QUOTE] yes there's no video sadly
[QUOTE=Katatonic717;43742783]Why is the video just audio? I can't for the life of me get it to work. Is it supposed to be just plain audio?[/QUOTE] Yeah it's just a podcast for me.
I found a youtube vid on it though [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_I_B6U0GtI[/MEDIA]
That's fucking metal.
maybe they just finally realized that living as a starfish fucking sucks
Jesus Christ that sounds creepy.
Oh this isn't good if to many of them die, they're keystone species meaning that they're incredibly important for those areas. I love starfish so this is rather sad for me to hear.
What a brutal way to go.
What the actual fuck.
Cthulhu is coming. These poor creatures can not handle the psi waves and it's effecting their bodies.
Holy shit, that's just terrifying to even hear it, but seeing it just..bleeeh.
[QUOTE=JJones;43743314]Cthulhu is coming. These poor creatures can not handle the psi waves and it's effecting their bodies.[/QUOTE] The madness strikes them first.
The DFO guys on the coast that as bad as it is, it's really helping the overpopulation issues. Most of the newer starfish are already showing immunity anyways so it's not like this is a real threat anymore.
i fckn knew it [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPdMhVhXFzA[/media] our time has come
[img]http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100925103614/en.futurama/images/a/ac/Boneitis.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;43742853]maybe they just finally realized that living as a starfish fucking sucks[/QUOTE] The disease is actually sentience.
Patrick needs to get ripped, fast.
I am huge, that means I have huge guts RIP AND TEAR
anyone remember microsporidia? i remember reading about how it caused lesions in fish and forced them to commit suicide by ramming against a rocks on the seabed.
This is metal as fuck.
Waiting for a strain to effect humans and after a guy has his arms leave his body someone is going to take a picture of him and his arms as an album picture
Starfish AIDS.
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