Drew Harvell

And so, you know, just as an animal, they're very, very strange. And yet the thing that just, as a marine ecologist, blows my mind is they're incredibly important ecologically. We think of sea stars as ecosystem engineers because of their power. They're predators, so they eat prey, and they eat a lot of their prey, whether it's mussels or clams or sea urchins. Right.

And so, you know, just as an animal, they're very, very strange. And yet the thing that just, as a marine ecologist, blows my mind is they're incredibly important ecologically. We think of sea stars as ecosystem engineers because of their power. They're predators, so they eat prey, and they eat a lot of their prey, whether it's mussels or clams or sea urchins. Right.

And so, you know, just as an animal, they're very, very strange. And yet the thing that just, as a marine ecologist, blows my mind is they're incredibly important ecologically. We think of sea stars as ecosystem engineers because of their power. They're predators, so they eat prey, and they eat a lot of their prey, whether it's mussels or clams or sea urchins. Right.

Recently, we've been studying one that lives in deeper waters that used to eat all the urchins and control them, but it was decimated by a huge outbreak of disease. I kind of call it the COVID of sea stars because it affected... It's the wasting disease, right? It's the sea star wasting disease and it affected over 20 species. In addition...

Recently, we've been studying one that lives in deeper waters that used to eat all the urchins and control them, but it was decimated by a huge outbreak of disease. I kind of call it the COVID of sea stars because it affected... It's the wasting disease, right? It's the sea star wasting disease and it affected over 20 species. In addition...

Recently, we've been studying one that lives in deeper waters that used to eat all the urchins and control them, but it was decimated by a huge outbreak of disease. I kind of call it the COVID of sea stars because it affected... It's the wasting disease, right? It's the sea star wasting disease and it affected over 20 species. In addition...

to the sunflower star, which is the biggest and fastest in the world. I mean, this thing is three feet across. It's huge, and it eats a lot of urchins. When you remove all those sunflower stars, the urchins explode, and they've decimated our kelp meadows. And so along the entire West Coast, from San Diego up to Washington, we've had declining...

to the sunflower star, which is the biggest and fastest in the world. I mean, this thing is three feet across. It's huge, and it eats a lot of urchins. When you remove all those sunflower stars, the urchins explode, and they've decimated our kelp meadows. And so along the entire West Coast, from San Diego up to Washington, we've had declining...

to the sunflower star, which is the biggest and fastest in the world. I mean, this thing is three feet across. It's huge, and it eats a lot of urchins. When you remove all those sunflower stars, the urchins explode, and they've decimated our kelp meadows. And so along the entire West Coast, from San Diego up to Washington, we've had declining...

kelp beds partly due to the removal of just this one species of sea star. And weirdly, for such a big, powerful critter, it was the most susceptible to this disease. And so it's now on the endangered species list. And we've been working for a decade on a recovery program for it.

kelp beds partly due to the removal of just this one species of sea star. And weirdly, for such a big, powerful critter, it was the most susceptible to this disease. And so it's now on the endangered species list. And we've been working for a decade on a recovery program for it.

kelp beds partly due to the removal of just this one species of sea star. And weirdly, for such a big, powerful critter, it was the most susceptible to this disease. And so it's now on the endangered species list. And we've been working for a decade on a recovery program for it.

The trick, the superpower, is that it takes them a long time and they can hang on without spending much energy. And they hang on because they have hundreds of tube feet, which are like little suction cups that grip incredibly strong. And then the other part of the superpower is their smart skin. They can basically cross-link the microtubules in their skin to make it stiff and

The trick, the superpower, is that it takes them a long time and they can hang on without spending much energy. And they hang on because they have hundreds of tube feet, which are like little suction cups that grip incredibly strong. And then the other part of the superpower is their smart skin. They can basically cross-link the microtubules in their skin to make it stiff and

The trick, the superpower, is that it takes them a long time and they can hang on without spending much energy. And they hang on because they have hundreds of tube feet, which are like little suction cups that grip incredibly strong. And then the other part of the superpower is their smart skin. They can basically cross-link the microtubules in their skin to make it stiff and

under nervous control and then hold that without it costing them anything. And so that's how they win by hour after hour, just hanging on and pulling till the clam is opened.

under nervous control and then hold that without it costing them anything. And so that's how they win by hour after hour, just hanging on and pulling till the clam is opened.

under nervous control and then hold that without it costing them anything. And so that's how they win by hour after hour, just hanging on and pulling till the clam is opened.

Well, there's been a lot of interesting research trying to use the ideas in the smart skin of sea stars and sea cucumbers in tendon replacement therapies because of the ability to change under neural control. So all of these organisms, and they tend to be invertebrates, that have these so-called smart tissues are a lot of interest in transplantation therapy.

Well, there's been a lot of interesting research trying to use the ideas in the smart skin of sea stars and sea cucumbers in tendon replacement therapies because of the ability to change under neural control. So all of these organisms, and they tend to be invertebrates, that have these so-called smart tissues are a lot of interest in transplantation therapy.