Ben Miner

After a mysterious disease killed millions of sea stars up and down the West Coast in recent years, they’ve shown some signs of recovery in pockets of southern California. But, in…

Emerging from a recent dive 40 feet below the surface of the Puget Sound, biologist Ben Miner wasn't surprised by what he found: The troubling disease that wiped out millions of starfish up and down the West Coast had spread to this site along the rocky cliffs of Lopez Island.

In scattered sites along the Pacific Coast, researchers and others have reported seeing hundreds of juvenile sea stars, buoying hopes for a potential comeback from sea star wasting disease that has caused millions of purple, red and orange sea stars to curl up, grow lesions, lose limbs and…

The shellfish pathogen that hit California’s Channel Islands in the 1980s began to quickly kill one of the tideland’s most important animals — black abalone.

But what unnerved scientists was what they learned next: Whenever ocean waters grew warmer, the deadly…

Scientists have cracked the mystery of what has killed millions of sea stars in waters off the Pacific coast, from British Columbia to Mexico.

A marine invertebrate expert will kick off the 2014-15 Discovery Speaker Series with a program Thursday on sea star wasting disease.

Presented by the South Sound Estuary Association, the free six-part series brings experts to the South Sound to talk about issues…

Ben Miner picks his way over slick cobble on the shore of Bellingham Bay, in northwestern Washington. He has brought me to his study site here to show me something that has become increasingly rare on the west coast of North America: a healthy community of sea stars.

He stops now and…

Scientists are making some headway in figuring out what is killing millions of sea stars in the waters off the Pacific coast, from British Columbia to Mexico.

While a definitive answer eludes them, researchers suggest a pathogen — either bacterial or viral — is responsible for the death…