Researchers have unmasked the deadly bacteria responsible for causing sea stars to melt away, killing billions over the past decade and upending marine ecological habitats.

Sea Star Wasting Disease, or SSWD, is considered the largest marine epidemic ever documented in the wild and killed billions of sea stars from Alaska to Mexico , according to the Tula Foundation , which is among the organizations investigating this deadly disease. SSWD has wiped out 90% of sunflower sea stars along the west coast of North America.

RECORD-BREAKING MEGA CORAL VISIBLE FROM SPACE IS POSSIBLY 300 YEARS OLD

The symptoms of the washing disease start with lesions on the outside of a sea star and eventually turns deadly as its tissue "melts." The whole process takes about two weeks, causing sea stars to becom

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