Rosa and Miguel, a purple pair of 18-legged Sunflower Stars, are the newest residents of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center on Stearns Wharf.
Sunflower Stars are an endangered species that have been largely absent from the California coast since the mid-2010s due to a harsh wave of Sea Star Wasting Disease. With the colorful sea stars missing in action, urchins, which Sunflower Stars usually eat, have overgrazed kelp beds and thrown the ecosystem out of balance.
The Sea Center worked with Sunflower Star Laboratory in Monterey to help restore the population of sea stars—also commonly called starfish—and rehabilitate kelp forests.
“It’s really cool to be working with endangered species,” said Saul Lopez-Villalta, aquarist at the Sea Center. “It’s definitely a nice feeling to replant something in the wild, we can help keep them around for another generation.”
The Sunflower Stars live in a large tank in the upstairs section of the Sea Center with the “Dive-In” exhibits. They are new neighbors to Moon Jellyfish, a seahorse, a California Shrimp and other marine creatures. To recreate the sea stars natural habitat in preparation for their release, Rosa and Miguel’s tank also features seagrapes, a tastefully named type of native seaweed.
Sunflower Stars play a key role in maintaining the health of kelp beds in California waters. About 95% of Northern California’s kelp forests have disappeared in the past 10 years, according to the Sea Center, and marine scientists believe this is due in large part to grazing from urchins, which a healthy Sunflower Star population would otherwise keep under control.
Dylan Otte, naturalist at the Sea Center, explained that urchins can smell when Sunflower Stars are nearby. The presence of the sea stars alters urchins’ behavior by forcing them to hide rather than continue to eat kelp. Without these natural predators, urchins have now grazed unchecked.
The Sunflower Star population effectively collapsed in 2013 due to a little-understood condition now known as Sea Star Wasting Disease. The disease is caused by a strain of bacteria common along the West Coast and is estimated to have killed more than 5 billion Sunflower Stars.
“You can’t find Sunflower Stars in the wild very easily anymore because of this massive loss,” Lopez-Villalta said. “So being able to come into an aquarium and see them is going to be really cool.”
The stars aren’t the only endangered species the Sea Center looks out for.
Lopez-Villalta said they are also assisting in captive breeding programs. For example, White Abalone snails are bred at the Sea Center, which will later assist in releasing them into the wild. These snails have been endangered since 2001.
The public can come visit Rosa and Miguel at the Sea Center and watch them grow—according to Lopez-Villalta, they may reach up to three feet.
“People love it, especially here in Santa Barbara, “ Lopez-Villalta said. “We’re a community that’s very reliant on the ocean and our kelp forests are very important.”
