“In late August 2011, formerly abundant intertidal populations of the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a well-known ecosystem engineer), and the predatory six-armed sea star (Leptasterias sp.) were functionally extirpated from ~100 km of coastline. Other invertebrates, including the gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri) the ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus), and subtidal populations of purple sea urchins also exhibited elevated mortality.” Jurgens LJ, Rogers-Bennett L, Raimondi PT, Schiebelhut LM, Dawson MN, Grosberg RK, et al. (2015) “Patterns of Mass Mortality among Rocky Shore Invertebrates across 100 km of Northeastern Pacific Coastline“. PLoS ONE 10(6): e0126280. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126280 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126280 (100 km is approximately 62 miles)

“By far, of all the marine invertebrates, the largest levels of plutonium are found in benthic organisms and those predators feeding on benthic organisms.. The starfish, in each case, were collected as they were feeding on the mussel beds. The Pu concentration, although…