The Quarantine Scene

Last week, we told the story of a mysterious sea star that may have literally fallen out of the sky and into our lives. With continuing bad news about Sea Star Wasting Disorder, Animal Care staff had recently implemented a quarantine protocol for new animals going into our tide pool touch tank. Our recent visitor was a good test for our new procedure.


The original home of our animals, Puget Sound, is cold – from 8 degrees (44˚F) in winter, to 14 degrees (57˚F) in late summer. Naturally, our touch tank animals need cold water to stay healthy. The price of chillers, a machine that cools and recirculates tank water, is expensive. But we realized we could use a small refrigerator and modify it with a thermostat to bring the temperature within the required range for the health of our tide pool animals.

Once we fitted our fridge with containers for the types of animals we would be housing, we created a manifold of air bubblers to keep the animals’ water well oxygenated. Each day we do a 50% water change, using synthetic sea salt mix. By changing out the water, we dilute and over time flush out any pollutants the animals have in their bodies. The frequent, large water changes also mean the tanks never accumulate toxins such as ammonia, and if we remove the water with care, we clean up most of the waste and uneaten food at the same time.

Our quarantine process has worked very well as a temporary life support system, but as a method for preventing Sea Star Wasting Disorder it has one obvious flaw: If any animal other than a sea star is a carrier, it will not show any symptoms. Therefore, there is no obvious way to determine if an animal is safe to be around our stars.

Somewhat arbitrarily, we hold wild-collected animals for 30 days regardless of species, and those transferred from other facilities for a variable amount of time. Anemones are mostly water. Ten days of 50% water change should lead to them trading out most of their native water for new, ‘clean’ synthetic water mix. Other echinoderms, such as urchins, are not thought to be carriers but are quarantined longer than anemones simply because of their closer relationship to the sea stars.

And what about new sea stars? Our intention had been not to introduce any. But when one was brought to us, we determined that 30 days should be enough time to see if symptoms developed. Sadly, we didn’t need even ten days. We do not know if our little star succumbed to wasting disorder, or to the trauma of being removed from the water and attacked by gulls. Our quarantine care could not help it. The star showed lack of motor control, loss of body substance, and eventually its limbs began to deteriorate. At that point, Animal Care gave it a swift and humane end of life.

We are sorry to lose the star, but grateful to volunteer David Ashlin and Animal Caretaker Katie Malmberg for recognizing that this animal was not a resident of our touch tank. And a big “Thank you” to Christopher Russell for developing our quarantine process that lets us prevents problems before they entered our tide pool system.


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Our Lucky Star

When Animal Caretaker Katie Malmberg got the radio call, she knew something was a little different.

“A guest handed me something at the tide pool. I think you should see it”. The message told her to expect something odd, but she was not prepared for what she saw.



It was a sea star! A small mottled star, Evasterias, found by the guest on a sidewalk near Pacific Science Center. By itself, that was surprising and disturbing, but the bigger mystery was, it did not appear to be from our tide pool touch tank.

Animal Care keeps photos of all our sea stars, a practice we began when we first became concerned with Sea Star Wasting Disorder. We want to know which individual animal we are talking about in case anything happens to one of them.

As far as we can surmise, this star was not taken out of the tide pool and later dropped on the sidewalk by an absent-minded guest. Instead we believe, it may have been lifted from the beach by an overly ambitious gull. Sea stars are not a large portion of the diet of gulls, but a quick Internet search for images of “gulls eating starfish” reveals that they do sometimes try and the stars are hard to swallow. Perhaps our star was grabbed and carried by its captor to a safe feeling place, where the bird intended to finish swallowing it. Or it turned out to be too big. Or perhaps a more tempting morsel appeared and the gull flew off, leaving the stranded star to dry up in the sun.

Lucky for the star, someone found it.

The star is currently in our quarantine area. Between the trauma of being transported in such a way, and the chances of it succumbing to wasting disorder, its prognosis is still guarded. And though its fate is still up in the air, at least it is now back in the water.


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How Are Our Sea Stars Doing?

Many visitors to Pacific Science Center have been asking about a current ecological phenomenon known as Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. Have our Puget Sound Salt Water Tide Pool sea stars been affected?

The short answer is “No” and we are monitoring the situation closely. Pacific Science Center addresses the disease here including links to current research. Be assured that Animal Caretakers are recording any unusual appearances and movements of our sea stars in the hopes of having early detection if the disorder does appear. We are also taking photographs regularly and logging instances when staff report concerns about possible skin integrity.

The normal, relaxed posture of a sea star is open, like a star – with all limbs pointing straight out. The arms of sea stars contain sensory organs as well as the tube feet they use for movement. By spreading out their arms, they have access to the most sense data. But once in a while, the stars will take other postures.

Because crossed and twisted arms are an early indicator of the wasting disease, we are recording every time a star is noted in one of these positions. This will give us a good baseline for how often a healthy star is in one of these positions.

Sea star wasting syndrome is characterized by lesions of the skin – discolored, broken, or whitish areas where the epidermis has begun to break down. The white, calcium rich plates and spines of its skeleton become more obvious through its skin. But a sea star looks very different when it sits at or above the water’s surface than it does below. So far all our calls have been for stars that have parts of their body above the water level, and look funny but are actually fine.

We’ve also received few calls about the madreporite of our sea stars. This hard calcium ‘button’ on the top of every sea star is used to control the water pressure in and outside of the animal. Many people have never noticed the madreporite before, and wondered if it might be a sign of problems. We are fortunate to have many new eyes help us monitor our animals.

As more information is learned about this phenomenon, we will be reporting our findings. Until more is known, we will not be introducing any new sea stars or their relatives into the tide pool.


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Gifts from the MaST Center

Guests who were around at Pacific Science Center’s Salt Water Tide Pool at noon Friday got the wonderful experience of meeting a bevy of new creatures.

Staff and volunteers from Highline Community College’s MaST (Marine Science and Technology) Center led by Kaddee Lawrence, with expert information from Rus Higley, hand delivered a group of exciting Puget Sound organisms. These new residents are for us to share with anyone who wants to learn more about the diversity of our regional shoreline.

In addition to bringing an infusion of bright color, the animals are an assorted mix of species. Best of all, they are a mix of non-aggressive animals that will not try to eat each other.

Many of the sea stars in our collection are Pisaster species, among the most predacious of all creatures in the intertidal zone. Yet, we love how durable they are, and how happily they eat readily available shellfish. With the new sea star species, we hope to have animals that are easily cared for and unlikely to eat other members of the exhibit. If these sea stars do well, the folks at MaST have offered to help us replace our current Pisaster population with these less hungry brethren. We will then plan a second round of new animals to include chitons, limpets and other animals that easily get eaten. Already our exhibit is more diverse by the addition of:

2 - Red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus)
1 - Purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)
1 - California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus)
1 - Kelp crab (Pugettia productus)
2 - Vermillion sea star (Mediaster aequalis)
2 - Blood stars (Henricia leviuscula)
1 - Mottled star (Evasterias troscheli)
1 - Sun star (Solaster dawsoni)
25 - Plumose anemone (tiny)(Metridium sp)
2 - Swimming anemone (Stomphia coccinea)

We can’t say “thank you” enough to the scientists at MaST. However, if you find yourself down in Des Moines, at Redondo Beach on a Saturday morning, stop by and thank them for us! The program hosts a weekly open aquarium, where the public meets their animals and their wonderful staff and volunteers. This is a great way to extend your knowledge of marine life.


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Snow Daze

Back in November, we discussed our winter snow plans, and what it would take to ensure that the animals safely survived through closures due to snow. Little did we know how very necessary this training would be. During the snow storms last week, Pacific Science Center was closed for two days, and the Life Sciences team was unable to get to the facility. The animals were in good hands though.

Camp-In Coordinator Merrick Neville was ready for the task on Wednesday. She walked in through the snow, fed all the animals, and had only one real concern. A sea star in the tide pool exhibit was creating a cloud of murky water around itself. Might it be injured, or even dead?


After a series of photos, questions and observations, we concluded that Merrick had probably seen spawning behavior and the sea star was ok.


The next day, Thursday, all of Seattle was under a blanket of ice and snow. The only hint of movement was IMAX Supervisor Jenn Bentz, striding through the snow to come take care of the animals. Because Merrick had discharged her duties with great care, Jenn found things in good condition, but she too had a question. Normally our horticulture crew meticulously grooms the plants and removes any butterflies that may have died in the exhibit space. Jenn was unprepared for the “au natural” appearance of the butterfly house when it does not receive this in-depth care, and called to make sure everything was right.


The Life Sciences Department is deeply indebted to both of these stalwart helpers, and to Data Processor Laura Mazzocchi, who spent Thursday on call in case additional help was needed. We are also most grateful to volunteer Terry Pagos, who came in on an unscheduled Friday because she knew we would need an extra hand.

Without Jenn’s and Merrick’s help, some of the following would surely have happened:

Dangerously low humidity in the mole-rats: Naked mole-rats do not drink water. All of their moisture needs come from food and humidity in the air. With our heated buildings in winter, it is critical to monitor and adjust humidity daily. Had the colony been in a low humidity situation for two full days, they would have suffered from skin problems, and possibly from digestive and respiratory issues as well.


Carnage in the tide pool: Most of our tide pool animals are carnivores, and unlike many exhibits, which sequester by species, ours have free access to all parts of the exhibit. Without someone feeding them, some of our more aggressive anemones and sea stars might have taken matters into their own hands (or tentacles) and eaten their exhibit mates.

Lost butterfly lives: An estimated 60 – 100 butterflies emerge every day, and must be placed on exhibit within a few hours. Without our emergency coverage, they would have languished and died in their emerging chamber, never able to fly.

It is hard to speculate on what other unknowns might have happened. Instead, we are happy to focus on the actual outcome – healthy, happy animals and the knowledge that we have great co-workers who have our backs when things get snowy.

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Sea Star Spawn and so on

Sea stars, and many other marine animals, reproduce in ways that look very different from anything air dwellers do. Recent visitors to our Puget Sound Salt Water Tide Pool may have noticed some interesting, springtime behavior.



If you notice a sea star emitting a cloudy substance, the star is spawning - releasing its gametes into the water. Sea stars can be either male or female, and both release their spawn (is there a better word for this?) in the same way. Because they tend to live near other members of their species, there is a very good chance that some of these cells will find each other and fertilization can take place. In our tide pool, with its necessary filtration system, any fertilized sea star eggs won't be able to survive.

Like sea stars, many anemone species spawn by releasing free swimming (gametes) into the water. But many anemones also reproduce asexually, creating genetically identical clones of themselves. They can either split into two anemones of roughly equal size, or the parent anemone can bud smaller offspring. Sometimes when a large anemone relocates, it will leave small groups of cells that regenerate into tiny new anemones.


When you visit our tide pool or take a walk on a beach, lives are being lived around you. Look closely to appreciate the many way animals have evolved to meet the challenges of survival and reproduction.

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Love Your Beach

In wake of the current disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, we feel extremely lucky for the opportunity to explore our own local beaches, and to appreciate the delicate and unlikely balance of the animals that live along all shorelines. While we continue to hope for the best in the southern coast, we invite you to learn more about the tidal ecosystems that exist on Washington beaches. It’s been said that you can’t protect what you don’t love. We hope you’ll love it too.




On April 29, a group of Pacific Science Center’s life sciences staff and volunteers, along with two of our Science on Wheels teachers took a day trip to Indianola beach to collect marine life for our tide pool exhibit. As always, we brought our scientific collections permit from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, a list of animals we needed and we came prepared for rain or shine.

It was a beautiful day, and we collected a fine selection of animals.

2 - Aggregate anemone
4 - Christmas Anemone
17 - Hermit Crabs
3 - White anemone
3 - Plumose anemone
1 - Sea Algae (large bag)
5 - Sea stars – ochre
4 - Barnacle groups
3 - Mussel groups
3 - Burrowing sea cucumbers
1 - Key hole limpet
3 - Gunnel fish (juvenile)
5 - Snails
4 - Shrimp (small)
9 - Chiton, mossy or lined
2 - Isopods
1 - Cockle
4 - Moon snail collars



As we worked and enjoyed the day, the environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico was never far from our minds. Pacific Science Center’s tide pool model was developed to help foster appreciation and stewardship of Puget Sound. Never have those goals seemed more important; nor has the beach seemed more valuable or more fragile.


It can be overwhelming to think of large scale issues that threaten beach health. But there are many things we can do in our daily lives to preserve beach habitats. From visiting the beach respectfully and responsibly, to reducing the use of toxic pesticides, to cleaning our car at a carwash instead of on the street, to using the car less – many simple decisions impact the health of beaches. In caring for the beach, some will become involved in influencing bigger policy questions that help shape the future for our marine animals. We invite you to meet our animals, visit a beach, and link to other organizations dedicated to preserving the health of our irreplaceable Puget Sound.


Once again, we are grateful to PSC volunteer John Aurelius and the Indianola Beach community for allowing us to collect permitted animals from their shores.

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Tide Pool Census 2009

Pacific Science Center’s Puget Sound Saltwater Tide Pool is home to animals collected under a Scientific Collection permit, issued by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW). Without a permit, it is illegal to gather animals from beaches. With a permit, it is still Pacific Science Center’s responsibility to take animals correctly, gathering only what will be used and leaving the environment as intact as possible.



Each year we submit a list of all the animals we have collected in the last 12 months. In addition to being a requirement, this is a tool for us to assess how well different species do in the exhibit.

Below is a list of the animals collected in 2009 and the census of animals present at year’s end. This is a shorter version of the list we give the WSDFW, which gives details to genus or species level.

In some cases, there are more animals listed than we collected in 2009. The extras are animals collected in previous years – a sign that they are doing well in husbandry for that group.


Other animals are collected in substantial numbers and yet none are present at year’s end. In the case of shellfish, this is planned. Clams, barnacles and mussels are collected as food items for the sea stars. In other cases, such as “small assorted animals” we may still have the animals but cannot find them. Isopods, tiny anemones and small shrimp routinely work their way into our filter beds, where they live free from predators, and well nourished by the remnants of food left by other animals.



In some cases, though, the species is simply not doing well in our environment. Sand dollars, for example, have very specific habitat needs that are not met in our enclosure. This is an animal we are unlikely to collect in the future.


We had a very marked change in survival rates for anemones, urchins, and sea stars when we installed a hand rinse sink in 2003. Previously these animals could not be touched without rapid loss of health. Now they are highly resilient to touching. Contaminants on people’s hands were more harmful than the physical fact of being touched.


Hermit crabs are a special case because guests are allowed to handle them. Sadly, they did not experience the same jump in survival rates when we got the sink, and we are still working on ways to increase their longevity. The biggest risks to our hermit crabs seem to be, in order from highest to lowest: wandering into unsafe areas, fighting with each other, and rough handling by people. One way we have found to keep them healthy is to keep the population relatively low. An enclosure with twelve to 15 hermit crabs will remain stable, but one with twenty or more will experience losses until the number drops below 15.


Keeping these statistics is the best way for Animal Caretakers to track and assess our tidepool husbandry procedures.

-Sarah Moore, Life Sciences Manager

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Tide Pool Etiquette, Part 2

For many of our visitors, one of the most memorable experiences they can have at Pacific Science Center is at our Puget Sound Saltwater Tide Pool. But it’s not just about playing in water and touching weird things. Our goal in having a Tide Pool is to provide visitors with an opportunity to see and touch some of the many organisms that make Puget Sound unique and to learn how to interact with them in the wild. So whether you’re visiting our touch tank or headed out to the beach, we ask that you keep the following protocol in mind.



One sea animal that is common both in Puget Sound and in our Tide Pool is the sea anemone. A kid might say it resembles a toothbrush with a suction cup at the bottom. Sea anemones are also often mistaken for plants. In reality, they are animals. Although it is tempting to try to peel them off of rocks, this can hurt them. It is best to leave an anemone where it is. If you are curious, touch the anemone with two gentle fingers. Watch out for little ones because they may use something else, like their tongues!

Sea stars look rough and sturdy but they are fragile like most other tide pool animals! Like sea anemones, sea stars also stick to rocks, clams, and the sea floor. Do you think it would be a good idea to pull a sea star away from a rock? Of course not! This tears off the tiny tube feet that they use to hold onto things and to move around. You can touch a sea star with two fingers and feel its rough endoskeleton, but please never pull one off of any surface!


In our tide pool, we have a Plexiglas box of hermit crabs that visitors can hold. In the wild, it may be more difficult to find hermit crabs. They usually hide out under big rocks. No matter where you find them, treat them with care! Don’t forget - they can pinch you. At the seashore, stay close to the ground when you hold a hermit crab, in case you drop it. In our tide pool we tell our visitors that if they want to pick up a hermit crab, they must keep their hands over or in the water. We also tell our visitors to put the hermit crabs back in their box so they won’t get eaten by anemones or sea stars. In the wild there isn’t a box to protect hermit crabs but still, you should put a hermit crab back where you found it. Please don’t take it away from its home.

Finally, there are some animals you just shouldn’t touch whether you are visiting our tide pool or visiting a beach, including all species of fish. In Pacific Science Center’s tide pool, we have a very special fish: “Grunty,” the Grunt sculpin, our tide pool mascot. He is very cute and tempting to touch because he tends to swim in the shallow areas within easy reach of visitors. Grunty, like all fish, has a special mucus membrane over his scales that protects him from disease. If you touch a fish, you might take off that protective coating. Remember, without touching fish you can still learn a great deal about them. Observe how they use their fins to swim or compare how a small fish swims as opposed to a bigger fish.

If you keep in mind these few guidelines, you and all of the animals you find should have a great time the next time you visit the seashore or Pacific Science Center!

This is the follow up to Nancy’s November 10, 2009 article on Tide Pool Etiquette . Our guest author/ photographer is a Volunteer and a Discovery Corps Internship Graduate.

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