Meet Rosa and Miguel: Endangered Sea Stars

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Sea Center has put two endangered sunflower sea stars named Rosa and Miguel on display at Stearns Wharf, part of a broader recovery effort for a species that has largely vanished from California waters. The animals are sunflower sea stars, or *Pycnopodia helianthoides*, a major predator of sea urchins in kelp forests. The Sea Center and Sunflower Star Laboratory say the pair are serving as ambassador animals for a species hit hard by sea star wasting disease and other ocean stressors. The arrival has turned a local exhibit into a public-facing window on one of the West Coast’s largest marine die-offs. ### Who are Rosa and Miguel, exactly? Rosa and Miguel are sibling sunflower sea stars now living at the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara, according to the museum and Sunflower Star Laboratory. The organizations describe them as pale purple animals with 18 arms, part of a cohort being raised for conservation and public education. June 15 is the date Sunflower Star Laboratory said it brought the two stars to Santa Barbara. (sunflowerstarlab.org) The laboratory said the siblings are part of its “Cupid Cohort,” raised from eggs that were spawned and fertilized at Birch Aquarium on February 14, 2024. ### Why did sunflower sea stars disappear from California? The 2013-2014 outbreak of sea star wasting disease devastated sunflower sea stars and other species along the West Coast, according to Sunflower Star Laboratory and researchers at the University of Washington. (sunflowerstarlab.org) The disease caused animals to lose tissue rapidly, and the population collapse pushed sunflower sea stars onto the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List as critically endangered. August 4, 2025, marked the publication of research identifying a strain of *Vibrio pectenicida* as the cause of sea star wasting disease, according to the University of Washington. That research said the disease has killed billions of sea stars in up to 20 species over the past decade and wiped out more than 90% of the once-common sunflower sea star in the continental United States. (sunflowerstarlab.org) ### Why do scientists care so much about this one sea star? Sunflower sea stars are important because they eat sea urchins, which in turn graze on kelp, according to NOAA Fisheries and Sunflower Star Laboratory. Reuven Bank, executive director of Sunflower Star Laboratory, said the stars’ presence also changes urchin behavior, pushing them to hide more and feed less aggressively. Northern California’s kelp forests have suffered steep losses over the past decade, with Kelpwatch and other conservation groups documenting declines of about 95% in some regions. (washington.edu) Federal and nonprofit groups have linked those losses to a combination of marine heat, urchin overgrazing and the disappearance of predators such as the sunflower sea star. ### Are Rosa and Miguel being released into the ocean? The Santa Barbara exhibit is not being described as a release site for Rosa and Miguel. (sunflowerstarlab.org) Sunflower Star Laboratory said the pair previously participated in inaugural outplanting trials in Monterey before returning to the laboratory and then moving to Santa Barbara as Southern California ambassador stars. (kelpwatch.org) Monterey-based recovery work is part of a larger network that includes aquariums, researchers and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Saving Animals from Extinction Sunflower Sea Star Program, according to Sunflower Star Laboratory. The group said it coordinates restoration efforts with institutions across North America. ### What protections does the species have now? The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified *Pycnopodia helianthoides* as critically endangered in 2021, based on an assessment completed in 2020. (santamariatimes.com) NOAA Fisheries also says the species is the subject of a proposed federal rule to list it as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. NOAA said in its earlier protection proposal that the species has been rare south of Washington state since 2017 and has disappeared almost entirely from Southern California shores, including the Channel Islands. (sunflowerstarlab.org) The agency linked the decline to sea star wasting syndrome, warmer ocean temperatures and other physical stressors. ### What happens next in Santa Barbara? (iucnredlist.org) The Sea Center is now using Rosa and Miguel as public-facing animals in its marine science exhibits and education programs on Stearns Wharf, according to the museum and local coverage. The exhibit gives visitors a chance to see a species that has been largely absent from California’s coast since the mid-2010s. Sunflower Star Laboratory said its next steps remain tied to restoration, captive rearing and additional outplanting work with partner institutions. (fisheries.noaa.gov) In Santa Barbara, Rosa and Miguel are the visible part of that effort, while the underlying recovery program continues in Monterey and through regional conservation partnerships. (sunflowerstarlab.org) (sbnature.org)