Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Queen of the Kelp Forest" — Sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are a spectacular predator in the bull kelp forest ecosystem. They have become virtually extinct in northern California due to a starfish plague in the last decade. Without predation control over grazers, purple urchins have proliferated uncontrollably and grazed entire kelp patches. There are many efforts to support Pycnopodia recovery across the region, including laboratory-based breeding to eventually release these predators back onto wild reefs. The hope is that such efforts will help plug sunflower stars back into the dynamic ecological infrastructure of the North Coast. The local extinction of sunflower stars showed no signs on land—if there's a forest fire underwater, can we see the smoke? Whidbey Island, Washington. January 2024 by Abbey Dias @abbeydias