Ghosts of their former selves

Beautiful day. A bit more play in the studio this morning and then Musings and hubby took off in their boat for other ports….Backblipped her earlier today making art yesterday.....

Sorry about this grim subject for the 2nd time this week (see this blip 3 days ago. ) After lunch we decided to do our citizen science protocol thing and report the status of the sea stars disease here. This organizationwhich includes the U of Washington is trying to record what is happening where in an effort to see why the stars are dying more in some places than others… We had to count the stars in a 50 meter stretch and classifyy them as to 1 of 5 kinds, how big, and were they healthy ,sick or dead. ( In our allotted space we saw 17, none healthy, several sick (still purple) but most all dead) and document them with a ruler in the photo next to them ( like this, which has lost a leg and is on it's way to dissolving.) also record the water temp (62 F) Then in 2 weeks do it again. (I suspect in 2 weeks we will see nothing in the same place.)
This picture is of some sea star ghosts under the wharf that practically glowed in the foot or so of water covering them —it’s the virus? and dissolved skeleton parts. VERY eerie. And sad. You can also see a 3 legged one (still purplish) in the middle .) But I thought this monotone was appropriate, especially since this is the last day for the monthly blip for Monotone….