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New sea star babies offer glimmer of hope for potential recovery amid mass deaths in Pacific 
In scattered sites along the Pacific Coast, researchers and others have reported seeing hundreds of juvenile sea stars, buoying hopes for a potential comeback from sea star wasting disease that has caused millions of purple, red and orange sea stars to curl up, grow lesions, lose limbs and disintegrate into a pile of goo.
"Babies. That's what we hope for," said Miner, associate professor of biology at Western Washington University. "If you're hoping for sea star populations to recover, it's the best news you can get to be able to go to sites and see that there are babies."
Juveniles were observed at some sites before adults died and many appeared to have survived after the die-offs, Miner said.
One theory for why there are so many juveniles is that when adult sea stars were stressed from the wasting disease, they released millions of eggs and sperm into the water column, increasing the chances for fertilization. Ideal conditions in recent months have helped push those larvae to the shore, where they're able to cling to hard surfaces such as rocks and pilings to grow.
Now, Miner said, "the question is when these babies get big, will you expect them to die like the adults?"
Raimondi added it will take a few years of monitoring to know for sure whether the sea stars will grow and repopulate. And it's too early to say how the ecosystem will change in their absence.
Scientists worry the loss of sea stars could reshape coastal communities because they are top predators. There have been reports of sea urchins moving into areas where starfish once dominated.
And the worst of the wasting disease doesn't appear to be over, at least in some places, including along Washington's Olympic Coast where it was first reported in June 2013.
less than 50%
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link to www.startribune.com]
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link to geophysics.eas.gatech.edu]
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