Exploring the pathology of an epidermal disease affecting a circum-Antarctic sea star.

ABSTRACT: Over the past decade, unusual mortality outbreaks have decimated echinoderm populations over broad geographic regions, raising awareness globally of the importance of investigating such events. Echinoderms are key components of marine benthos for top-down and bottom-up regulations of plants and animals; population declines of these individuals can have significant ecosystem-wide effects. Here we describe the first case study of an outbreak affecting Antarctic echinoderms and consisting of an ulcerative epidermal disease affecting ~10% of the population of the keystone asteroid predator Odontaster validus at Deception Island, Antarctica. This event was first detected in the Austral summer 2012-2013, coinciding with unprecedented high seawater temperatures and increased seismicity. Histologi

SUBMITTER: Nunez-Pons L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6063859 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature