Pisaster Giganteus

Pisaster giganteus (also known as Giant Spined Sea Star or Giant Starfish) is an existing multicellular animal that roams the waters of British Columbia to Baja, California. In the water, there are always relationship between organisms with another organisms. Similarly, there is a relationship between the giant sea star with human, whether that may be good or bad. The actions of human may sometimes cause problems to sea star, and the problem eventually loops back to human.
The giant sea star (P. giganteus) lived among other aquatic organisms in the water. From the previous Animal Investigation, it is known that the giant sea star and its relative purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceus) are keystone species. The definition of keystone species …show more content…
Carbon dioxide emission from cars, industries, and coal plants increases amount of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide gas could also be absorbed by the ocean, creating a bicarbonate ion (HCO3-), decreasing the pH of the ocean along the way. This decrease in pH is thought to have contributed to the development of the SSWD epidemic. A possible explanation is that the higher acidity of ocean waters will lower the viral resistance in sea critters such as sea stars themselves. As discussed before, the fact that giant sea star (P. giganteus) and purple sea star (P. ochraceus) are considered to be keystone species will result in the imbalance in the environment. One of the organisms impacted is fish. As with the reduced number of sea stars, the number of sea urchin will increase and hence, more kelp will be digested by the sea urchin. As kelp is mainly used by fishes for protection against predators, the absence of kelps will make these fishes more vulnerable to the predator and hence their number will decrease. This impacted human as the number of fishes and prawns caught and consumed will be reduced as a consequence of SSWD. As a result, the SSWD epidemic of the sea star creates a massive impact that is felt by numerous organisms, including …show more content…
In one end, beaches and marine life attracts tourists from around the world and provides revenue for local residents. The presence of tourists attraction sites in the local community will increase the amount of sales in the area and thus providing profit. The main problem was that most tourists took the giant sea star as ‘gift’ or memorabilia when they visited a specific place or site. Sea star could still survive even if they are missing arms (through regeneration, discussed in previous Animal Investigation Paper). However, they will definitely die if they are taken as a token to be hung around the house. As a result, the number of living giant sea star will decrease and once again threaten the balance in ecosystem. Consequently, collecting sea star is now prohibited and is only allowed for research purposes. Though they were not on the IUCN Red Lists of Threatened Species, the fact that there are still conservation effort put into maintaining the giant sea star suggests the importance of sea star in the food web and in the ecosystem itself. Pisaster giganteus, the pentamerous sea star with giant rings proved again how complex a simple organism living without brain could have such integral role in being the keystone species of the marine world and provide a significant direct and indirect effect to both human and other organisms living in the ocean. The giant sea star has once