In a promising discovery announced by NOAA in June 2026, 18 sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) were found in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off Northern California. The species was thought locally extinct after sea star wasting disease killed an estimated six billion individuals from 2013 to 2017—the largest marine epidemic ever recorded. Researchers recently identified the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida as the cause, though factors driving its spread remain under investigation.