Stewardship Report: An Unfamiliar Sea Star

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On March 1, HRAP Naturalists Ellison and Andrea were surprised to find an unusual-looking sea star in the Marine Garden tide pools, and showed it to me (Margaret). I wasn’t quite sure what species it was, so I took a picture and uploaded it to the mobile app iNaturalist, hoping that the other users of the app would help me identify the star. 



Within a day, the users on iNaturalist had identified it as a Mottled Star (Evasterias troschelii). Mottled Stars are more commonly found in Puget Sound, but are sometimes seen on the coasts of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and northern California. My observation was also added to the iNaturalist project, Tracking Starfish Wasting and Recovery, which is helping to monitor recovery of sea star populations from Sea Star Wasting Disease. If you see any sea stars while tidepooling, you can snap a photo (safely and without disturbing the star, of course!) and upload it to iNaturalist to help with this project, too!

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 13, 2019 at 1:56 PM

    I found a mottled star in a tide pool in Barview, Oregon in early spring as well! I wish I had taken a picture of it, but next time I will. I'll also download that iNaturalist app! Thanks for the tip!

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