By Julia DiPinto and Dan Distel

Everyone loves sea stars—but did you know they are keystone predators that help shape and maintain the biodiversity of our coastal ecosystems? That is why Angela Jones, a dedicated PhD candidate, educator, and researcher at the Marine Science Center (MSC), is leading her team of graduate students and high school volunteers to study sea star diversity and the deadly sea star wasting disease that threatens our local sea star populations.

Since the species was first discovered, scientists were puzzled by the variation they saw in sea stars. To better understand them, Angela and her team carefully study and document the physical traits of different sea star species. Sea stars are common throughout New England, and Angela’s team has sampled them from the intertidal zone to depths of up to 100 feet, revealing a diverse array of species and traits. The team focuses on quantifying these differences using microscopic imaging equipment provided by Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL) to capture detailed images of these marine specimens.

This partnership is a great example of how our community at the MSC can advance scientific progress by sharing equipment and information. The fascinating pictures Angela’s team produces and the valuable samples and data they contribute to OGL’s biorepository will not only help document the diversity and health of our local marine ecosystems, but will also become available to support and enable research by scientists worldwide.

We look forward to highlighting Angela and her team’s research through this collaboration. In addition to sea stars, numerous new images of marine specimens have been captured using this equipment. Check out our social media to learn about them in our upcoming Species Spotlights.