Sunflower seastar arm w tube feet extended (Pycnopodia helianthoides). 🦑
May 24, 2024 at 10:29 PM
Sunflower seastar arm w tube feet extended (Pycnopodia helianthoides). 🦑
Going back through that pycnopodia of a thread has some real chef's kiss moments.
September 7, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Going back through that pycnopodia of a thread has some real chef's kiss moments.
Baby sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides. My first time seeing live ones in the wild since 2013! 🤩😍
July 11, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Baby sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides. My first time seeing live ones in the wild since 2013! 🤩😍
New research on endangered sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) was just highlighted in
@nature.com. The study, led by Hakai Institute research scientist @rhizalyssa.bsky.social, shows Pycnopodia finding refuge from sea star wasting disease in BC's coastal fjords🔗 tinyurl.com/shzdtawj
@nature.com. The study, led by Hakai Institute research scientist @rhizalyssa.bsky.social, shows Pycnopodia finding refuge from sea star wasting disease in BC's coastal fjords🔗 tinyurl.com/shzdtawj
April 23, 2025 at 2:04 AM
New research on endangered sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) was just highlighted in
@nature.com. The study, led by Hakai Institute research scientist @rhizalyssa.bsky.social, shows Pycnopodia finding refuge from sea star wasting disease in BC's coastal fjords🔗 tinyurl.com/shzdtawj
@nature.com. The study, led by Hakai Institute research scientist @rhizalyssa.bsky.social, shows Pycnopodia finding refuge from sea star wasting disease in BC's coastal fjords🔗 tinyurl.com/shzdtawj
More Sunshine Cove tidepooling pics from Juneau: so many inverts & some Pycnopodia sunflower stars in the wild! 🌟 🌊😍
June 16, 2026 at 6:42 PM
More Sunshine Cove tidepooling pics from Juneau: so many inverts & some Pycnopodia sunflower stars in the wild! 🌟 🌊😍
Coworker: “Only thing getting us through the day at this point is reckless optimism”
Hits better than espresso
Hits better than espresso
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Coworker: “Only thing getting us through the day at this point is reckless optimism”
Hits better than espresso
Hits better than espresso
Not so long ago, in a galaxy off the West Coast… SEA STAR WASTING SYNDROME has killed billions of Pycnopodia helianthoides. Scientists took up the fight to restore sunflower stars. We will be sharing their saga all next week on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn this coming Monday! ✴️
Sea stars: return of the galaxy | #shorts #conservation
YouTube video by Monterey Bay Aquarium
youtube.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Not so long ago, in a galaxy off the West Coast… SEA STAR WASTING SYNDROME has killed billions of Pycnopodia helianthoides. Scientists took up the fight to restore sunflower stars. We will be sharing their saga all next week on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn this coming Monday! ✴️
Blogpost from the Sunflower Star lab about Pycnopodia cannibalism! www.sunflowerstarlab.org/news/sunflow...
Sunflower Star Laboratory Raising Juvenile Pycnopodia! — Sunflower Star Laboratory
The Sunflower Star Laboratory is proud to announce that we have settled sunflower star (pycnopodia helianthoides) larvae into juveniles that we will be rearing in the lab in hopes that they me among t...
www.sunflowerstarlab.org
December 31, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Blogpost from the Sunflower Star lab about Pycnopodia cannibalism! www.sunflowerstarlab.org/news/sunflow...
You know what day it is! (Tubesday!)
#Tubesday #Tubefeet #Echinoderms #SunflowerStar #Pycnopodia #OregonCoast #OregonCoastAquarium
#Tubesday #Tubefeet #Echinoderms #SunflowerStar #Pycnopodia #OregonCoast #OregonCoastAquarium
March 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM
You know what day it is! (Tubesday!)
#Tubesday #Tubefeet #Echinoderms #SunflowerStar #Pycnopodia #OregonCoast #OregonCoastAquarium
#Tubesday #Tubefeet #Echinoderms #SunflowerStar #Pycnopodia #OregonCoast #OregonCoastAquarium
Happy Spawniversary to our wonderful, resilient, many-legged sunflower sea star babies! 🌟🧪
February 14, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Happy Spawniversary to our wonderful, resilient, many-legged sunflower sea star babies! 🌟🧪
Looking forward to seeing some old friends like Pycnopodia and my all-time fave nudibranch, the white-lined dirona.
July 29, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Looking forward to seeing some old friends like Pycnopodia and my all-time fave nudibranch, the white-lined dirona.
🎉 *Pycnopodia* population on the Nor Cal coast: ”‘The moment I saw my first sunflower star underwater, I was so excited that I literally screamed through my regulator,’ Rachael Karm, a research technician at Sonoma State University’s @hughesecology.bsky.social ecology and conservation lab, noted” 🦑🌊
Hughes Lab in the news in Nat Geo with the discovery of a sunflower population in Sonoma County, CA. This is is significant because the stars are top predators in kelp forests and have been missing for over a decade. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...
This creature was dubbed the Sasquatch of the sea. Scientists just found it.
A decade after they vanished from the ocean, the discovery of this lost colony of sunflower sea stars offers new hope for California's kelp forests.
www.nationalgeographic.com
June 13, 2026 at 9:08 PM
🎉 *Pycnopodia* population on the Nor Cal coast: ”‘The moment I saw my first sunflower star underwater, I was so excited that I literally screamed through my regulator,’ Rachael Karm, a research technician at Sonoma State University’s @hughesecology.bsky.social ecology and conservation lab, noted” 🦑🌊
i love pycnopodia
December 6, 2024 at 2:40 AM
i love pycnopodia
Captive bred sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) successfully released into Monterey Bay for the first time! This species has been more or less extirpated south of Washington since the 2014 outbreak of sea star wasting disease.🧪🦑
Sunflower star recovery project in California hits major milestone
Their return could help reverse a decade of kelp forest die-offs along the coast.
www.sfgate.com
December 29, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Captive bred sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) successfully released into Monterey Bay for the first time! This species has been more or less extirpated south of Washington since the 2014 outbreak of sea star wasting disease.🧪🦑
Pycnopodia doing its thing! NOM NOM but the cuke escaped! #seastarSaturday www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)
Sunflower Sea Star from Piper Point, Sechelt Inlet, BC, Canada on November 8, 2007 at 01:51 PM by Neil McDaniel. This Pycnopodia attacked an Apostichopus californicus. The cucumber escaped easily usi...
www.inaturalist.org
May 2, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Pycnopodia doing its thing! NOM NOM but the cuke escaped! #seastarSaturday www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Chloe sees up close and personal a sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), the largest sea star in the world!!
August 28, 2026 at 4:40 AM
Chloe sees up close and personal a sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), the largest sea star in the world!!
#blueskyartshow #underneath
#photography
The lonely Star next to a Sunburst Anemone underneath the ocean.
Mendocino Coast Ca.
The only Sun Flower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) seen consistently off our coastline in the past 2 years.
See ALT for info on this almost extinct Key Stone Species.
#photography
The lonely Star next to a Sunburst Anemone underneath the ocean.
Mendocino Coast Ca.
The only Sun Flower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) seen consistently off our coastline in the past 2 years.
See ALT for info on this almost extinct Key Stone Species.
May 31, 2025 at 3:34 PM
#blueskyartshow #underneath
#photography
The lonely Star next to a Sunburst Anemone underneath the ocean.
Mendocino Coast Ca.
The only Sun Flower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) seen consistently off our coastline in the past 2 years.
See ALT for info on this almost extinct Key Stone Species.
#photography
The lonely Star next to a Sunburst Anemone underneath the ocean.
Mendocino Coast Ca.
The only Sun Flower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) seen consistently off our coastline in the past 2 years.
See ALT for info on this almost extinct Key Stone Species.
Searching Twitter and here, I believe this is the first time in history that the word pycnopodia has been used to describe a thread.
September 8, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Searching Twitter and here, I believe this is the first time in history that the word pycnopodia has been used to describe a thread.
We are in Tutka Bay (Kachemak Bay, AK) for this minus tide cycle. Lots of Evasterias, a dozen or so Pycnopodia, many Dermasterias (w some tiny babies!) and all the other usual suspects. We found a Giant Sea Peach (12”!), the largest I have seen. More to come today 🦑 #marinelife #seastars #intertidal
April 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
We are in Tutka Bay (Kachemak Bay, AK) for this minus tide cycle. Lots of Evasterias, a dozen or so Pycnopodia, many Dermasterias (w some tiny babies!) and all the other usual suspects. We found a Giant Sea Peach (12”!), the largest I have seen. More to come today 🦑 #marinelife #seastars #intertidal
Hakai Institute researchers monitor sea star populations for signs of wasting disease around Quadra Island. A recent low tide at Hyacinth Bay gave them the opportunity to explore the biodiversity tucked into the crevices—including juvenile sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides).
July 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hakai Institute researchers monitor sea star populations for signs of wasting disease around Quadra Island. A recent low tide at Hyacinth Bay gave them the opportunity to explore the biodiversity tucked into the crevices—including juvenile sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides).
Awesome to see our colleagues’ work rearing at the Sunflower lab highlighted!
We’re working with them and others echinodermologists across the West Coast to design an #eDNA assay to help find the last CA sunflower stars and enhance future monitoring efforts!
We’re working with them and others echinodermologists across the West Coast to design an #eDNA assay to help find the last CA sunflower stars and enhance future monitoring efforts!
April 11, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Awesome to see our colleagues’ work rearing at the Sunflower lab highlighted!
We’re working with them and others echinodermologists across the West Coast to design an #eDNA assay to help find the last CA sunflower stars and enhance future monitoring efforts!
We’re working with them and others echinodermologists across the West Coast to design an #eDNA assay to help find the last CA sunflower stars and enhance future monitoring efforts!
What can happen when sea urchin predators like the sunflower sea star - (Pycnopodia heliantoides) are wiped out by wasting disease. Without them (and other historic predators like sea otters) controlling their populations, urchins graze down once lush kelp forests, leaving behind urchin barrens. 🧪
January 31, 2025 at 10:21 PM
What can happen when sea urchin predators like the sunflower sea star - (Pycnopodia heliantoides) are wiped out by wasting disease. Without them (and other historic predators like sea otters) controlling their populations, urchins graze down once lush kelp forests, leaving behind urchin barrens. 🧪
The mechanisms underlying seastar wasting disease #SSWD remain elusive, & this new preprint helps to fill this knowledge gap using data from a mosaic of infected & uninfected sunflower stars across Southeast Alaska to evaluate immune & microbial disruption. #Pycnopodia #MarineLife #Invertebrate 🦑🌊🧪🌎
Precursors of Sea Star Wasting: Immune and Microbial Disruption During Initial Disease Outbreak in Southeast Alaska https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.05.662347v1
July 6, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The mechanisms underlying seastar wasting disease #SSWD remain elusive, & this new preprint helps to fill this knowledge gap using data from a mosaic of infected & uninfected sunflower stars across Southeast Alaska to evaluate immune & microbial disruption. #Pycnopodia #MarineLife #Invertebrate 🦑🌊🧪🌎
A newly published study finds that sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) threatened by sea star wasting disease (SSWD) are finding marine refuge in the freshwater snowmelt of deep, cold-water fjords on BCs central coast. Full press kit now available🔗https://tinyurl.com/534rsnrj
April 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM
A newly published study finds that sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) threatened by sea star wasting disease (SSWD) are finding marine refuge in the freshwater snowmelt of deep, cold-water fjords on BCs central coast. Full press kit now available🔗https://tinyurl.com/534rsnrj