<em>Vibrio pectenicida</em> strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease

Here, we induced disease and subsequent mortality in exposure experiments using tissue extracts, coelomic fluid, and effluent water from wasting sunflower sea stars, with no mortality in controls. Deep sequencing of diseased sea star coelomic fluid samples from experiments and field outbreaks revealed a dominant proportion of reads assigned to the causative agent. Fulfilling Koch’s postulates, the pathogen, cultured from the coelomic fluid of a diseased sunflower sea star, caused disease and mortality in exposed sunflower sea stars, demonstrating that it is a causative agent of SSWD.

This discovery will enable recovery efforts for sea stars and the ecosystems affected by their decline by facilitating culture-based experimental research and broad-scale screening for pathogen presence and abundance in the laboratory and field.