The Wasting
May 19, 2015 4:16 AM   Subscribe

Raimondi had recently found himself undergoing an unexpected and not entirely desirable career shift: He had been thrust into the role of sea star detective. Though he is a marine biologist who divides his time between analyzing data and conducting research trips along the Pacific Coast, Raimondi is not entirely ill suited to the part. There is a private-investigator quality to his round, inquiring face, active eyes, and urgent, impatient voice.
posted by ellieBOA (9 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Whodunit?
posted by ostranenie at 5:25 AM on May 19, 2015


What a resolutely depressing article. Kudos for that, really.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:33 AM on May 19, 2015


I'd heard about this before, but I read this article a few days ago and was just horrified. I was grateful that the first sentence reminded me right from the start that "a sea star has no blood, brain, or central nervous system."
posted by Room 641-A at 6:06 AM on May 19, 2015


There is a private-investigator quality to his round, inquiring face, active eyes, and urgent, impatient voice.

As it happens I have the ghosts of Robert Mitchum and Humphrey Bogart over for afternoon tea at the moment, and they both call bullshit on this description.
posted by biffa at 6:47 AM on May 19, 2015


You must be confused, those guys were actors, not private investigators.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 6:52 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Interesting and unsettling read. I guess we're left with a whom-to-believe scenario regarding the future. Also:

There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater

buh

I mean, I know most viruses on earth are completely irrelevant to human life, but still. That's a lot.
posted by sidereal at 7:33 AM on May 19, 2015


This is so sad to read.
Last night my two-year old daughter was watching a TV program that introduced her to fireflies. As I watched her looking entranced by those unworldly lights on screen, I felt so bad holding the knowledge that fireflies are apparently on their way out as well.
posted by of strange foe at 9:03 AM on May 19, 2015


Freaky. Scary to think of this as a particularly grotesque emblem of an otherwise invisible extinction trend.

As for the densovirus idea, reminds me of e.coli -- endemic to humanity but when it gets in the wrong place at the wrong time, lethal.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 9:30 AM on May 19, 2015


We are witnessing the greatest loss of life in planetary history

Wha? I mean, I know we've ruined plenty of stuff, but I didn't think we'd managed to catch up with the Permian-Triassic event already.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 10:05 AM on May 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


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