Disease causing starfish to turn to goo

Photo Credit: Melissa Miner - LiveScience

Researchers have discovered a disease that is killing hundreds of starfish along the East and West coast of the United States. 

The disease, which has been named Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, causes lesions and eventually limb loss, effectively turning them to goo. Researchers have been unable to figure out exactly what is causing the disease and are unsure whether it is bacterial, viral or a combination of effects that have been caused by environmental stressors such as increasing water temperatures.

This disease may also be a consequence of our behaviour as the ocean absorbs about half of the carbon dioxide that man releases, causing the pH of the water to drop to more acidic levels.
This increased acidity may be causing the shells and skeletons of marine animals to dissolve, including starfish who have a calcium-based skeleton. 
You can read more about this here where some researchers from my local Marine Laboratory have studied the affects of global warming on marine wildlife. 

Sea star wasting syndrome is not thought to be spreading to other marine species, however this drastic loss of starfish may have serious detrimental effects on marine ecosystems. It has been recorded that this disease has killed up to 95% of some populations consisting of hundreds of individuals.
Some species of starfish, such as the West Coasts Ochre sea star and the Sunflower sea star (the largest sea star on earth) are thought to be keystone species, meaning that without them the ecosystem they exist in will simply not exist, killing every other species that relies on them to survive. 

This has occurred in sea stars before and populations have bounced back from it, so it is not 100% certain that this disease will be catastrophic however it will certainly be kept a close eye on. Some starfish are important indicator species, meaning that they help us to find out what is going on in the environment and a loss of these indicators may suggest something is going wrong elsewhere.