Thank you to Dr. Nicole Stacy and Dr. Sarah Wahltinez from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine for donating your research sea stars to our K-12 education program. Although we aren’t open to the public right now, care for our educational marine life continues daily.
These sea stars are Echinaster spinulosus or small spine sea stars, commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico. They were used as a pilot study to learn more about sea star anesthesia and how that may impact samples of their coelomic fluid (analogous to our blood) and biopsies. Dr. Nicole Stacy and Dr. Sarah Wahltinez, both veterinarians, plan to publish these results soon. They hope that this research will improve the welfare and treatment of sea stars used in research – as well as serve as ground work for Sarah’s PhD dissertation.