Bay Nature Talk: Sunflower Sea Stars

*As of 10am on March 19 this event is full and registration is now closed*

Join Bay Nature Magazine and Cal Academy marine biologists and experts Riah Evin and Elora López-Nandam for a virtual talk about sunflower sea stars on Wednesday, March 19, from 12 - 1pm. Sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) were an important generalist predator in kelp forest habitats in California prior to being devastated by sea star wasting syndrome in 2013. Loss of this top predator has contributed to overpopulation of purple sea urchins, which has in turn led to overgrazing and loss of giant kelp in California. Now, Cal Academy is rearing and studying sunflower stars spawned in aquaria, with the goal of eventually reintroducing this keystone species back onto our coast. This talk is based on this piece written by former Bay Nature editorial fellow, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright about the sea stars and the efforts to conserve them.

About the speakers: Mariah (Riah) Evin is a marine biologist with a specialization in kelp forest and California rocky reef habitats. Riah works to educate the public through creating and maintaining recreations of these habitats as well as breeding animals found therein.

Elora López-Nandam is an evolutionary biologist with research interests in the ecology, evolution, and conservation of marine ecosystems. Elora has used genetics to address a wide range of topics in the ocean, from sea cucumber fisheries in Fiji, to coral bleaching in American Samoa, to how mutations accumulate in coral colonies. Currently, Elora combines genomics with aquarium husbandry for important marine animals like corals and sea stars, in order to inform best practices for conservation breeding programs worldwide.

Photo © Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC-BY) via iNaturalist