A mysterious disease is killing off the West Coast's enormous sunflower sea star, so researchers have launched an ambitious effort to breed this species in captivity.
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On an island off the coast of Washington state, scientists have resorted to breeding sunflower sea stars in a lab. It's a desperate attempt to save the endangered animals from disappearing completely.
Jason Hodin hauls up a rope that's hanging from a dock in the waters off San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest. At the end is a square, sandwich-size Tupperware container, with mesh-covered holes in the sides to let water flow through. Hodin pulls off the lid and peers inside at some crushed bits of shell. He points to some reddish-orange dots.
"See that? That little dot right there in front of my finger?" Hodin says. "That's a juvenile sea star that's about a month old."
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