Critically Endangered Sunflower Sea Stars Now on Exhibit at California Academy of Sciences

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (June 16, 2025) —

WHAT: Three fully mature sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are now on exhibit for the first time in the California Academy of Sciences’ Steinhart Aquarium, sharing a habitat with the museum’s giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini). The three stars, whose colors range from purple to orange, were recently brought to the Academy from the Alaska SeaLife Center to help bolster genetic diversity as the Academy spawns and raises thousands of sunflower sea stars with the eventual goal of reintroduction along California’s coasts.

The Academy is the only facility in California approved to import these adult stars from Alaska, and their move to a public exhibit provides a critical opportunity to educate the public about the species’ significant role in maintaining California’s threatened coastal habitats.

WHY: Sunflower sea stars are a critical part of the ocean’s fragile ecosystem, and a fierce protector of California’s underwater kelp forests (often referred to as the “redwood forests of the ocean”).

In 2013, sunflower sea stars were afflicted by a mysterious sea star wasting disease, which slashed their population numbers by more than 90% in just a decade. This pandemic opened the door for purple sea urchins to devour 99% of California’s iconic kelp forests (and 90% across the Pacific coast), which play a vital role in carbon sequestration and provide habitat for innumerable animals.

This is just one milestone in the Academy’s years-long efforts to reestablish and rebuild the sunflower sea star population through pioneering novel larval rearing techniques and conducting genetic research. The multi-institutional collaborative team has included the Aquarium of the Pacific, Birch Aquarium, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Sunflower Star Laboratory, Alaska Sea Life Center, and Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

The stars go on exhibit during Snapshot Cal Coast, a community science effort led by the Academy taking place throughout the month of June. A subset of the monthlong activities is called Solstice Sea Star Search, when Academy scientists join community members in a search to spot sunflower sea stars in the wild.

WHEN: Currently on view; press are welcomed at any time.

WHERE: In-person at Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Press should enter through the business entrance at 75 Nancy Pelosi Drive, located at the rear of the building.
 

VISUALS AND INTERVIEWS:

• Interviews available with Steinhart Aquarium biologists
• Visuals of the sunflower sea stars on exhibit and behind-the-scenes larval rearing lab at the Academy, featuring various developmental stages of sunflower stars in jars and close-up views of the animals
• Photos available for use here (see folder titled: Pycnopodia on exhibit in Giant Pacific Octopus tank, by Gayle Laird)
• To learn more about the Academy's work to bring the sunflower sea star back read the press release from the February 2024 spawn
• Please contact press@calacademy.org to arrange for an on-site visit or interviews.

FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT SUNFLOWER SEA STARS:

• Sunflower sea stars can grow up to three feet long, weigh up to 11 pounds, and move more than 3 feet per minute on the ocean floor.
• Mature stars can regrow any one of their 24 arms.
• Despite their innocuous look, they are a carnivorous predator whose presence keeps urchins in check and kelp forests thriving, which in turn provides food and habitat for a variety of ocean species and sequesters climate-warming carbon.
• They are prominently found in intertidal and subtidal coastal waters of the Northeast Pacific Ocean, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to northern Baja California (source: NOAA Fisheries)