Sunflower Sea Star

Sunflower sea stars were the secondary urchin predators in kelp forest ecosystems—not as effective as sea otters but providing backup control. With 20+ arms and spans exceeding 3 feet, they were voracious urchin predators. Then sea star wasting disease eliminated 90%+ of populations starting in 2013. Without this backup predator, urchin populations surged even in areas with healthy otter populations.

The sunflower sea star collapse reveals the importance of redundancy in keystone predation. Sea otters alone couldn't control urchins that sunflower stars had also suppressed. The two predators weren't redundant—they controlled different urchin life stages, occupied different depths, and provided complementary rather than duplicate function. Losing one exposed the system's hidden fragility.

The business parallel is the danger of single points of failure in ecosystem control. Sunflower stars are like backup regulators, alternative suppliers, or secondary channels that seem redundant until the primary fails. Markets with multiple urchin-controlling mechanisms are more stable than those depending on a single keystone. The sunflower sea star collapse shows that apparent redundancy may actually be complementary—removing one 'backup' exposes functions the primary couldn't handle alone.