UB researchers discover a disease threatening the most plentiful starfish on the Antarctic sea floor
A study led by experts from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Biology and Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio) have identified a disease that is affecting the starfish Odontaster validus, one of the most common species on the Antarctic sea floor. The disease, which is the first to be described in an echinoderm in Antarctica’s marine environment, has afflicted up to 10% of the populations of the species, which is the most important benthic predator in the coastal communities of Deception Island and other marine regions in Antarctic latitudes.
The new study, which appears in the journal Scientific Reports, is the work of experts Conxita Àvila and Carlos Angulo-Preckler (IRBio, a UB research institute), Laura Núñez-Pons (Anton Dohrn Zoological Station of Naples, Italy), Thierry M. Work (United States Geological Survey) and Juan Moles (Harvard University, US).
Picture: Experts in the University of Barcelona's Faculty of Biology and Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio) have described the first disease to affect an echinoderm, the starfish Odontaster validus, in Antarctic ecosystems.