People hold candles during Earth Hour after the lights were turned off in central Amman March 29, 2014.
People hold candles during Earth Hour after the lights were turned off in central Amman March 29, 2014. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to confront climate change. Reuters/Ali Jarekji

Scientists learned that when the ocean water got warmer, an infection killed important animals in the water, resulting in a climate change hazard. The infection is called withering syndrome.

According to the Seattle Times, in the 1980s, shellfish pathogen killed the black abalone in Channel Islands in California. The withering syndrome also resulted in the death of more abalone. The death of so many black abalones had resulted in the animals becoming an endangered species. It is also a symbol of how climate change is a hazard for the marine life.

Scientists have announced that a virus that was found in sea star in the 1940s was responsible for the death of 20 species of starfish. The mass die-off of the species began in Washington and then spread to Southern California and Alaska.

The scientists said that it was too soon to pick the reason as to why the starfish disease happened. They said it could be linked to climate changes like global warming or ocean acidification, but they weren't sure. Ocean acidification is caused by carbon-dioxide emissions and results in the souring of the seas.

The scientists have also said that the death of the starfish could be the most extensive marine-disease event that has ever been documented. A few other experts suggested that the die-off would be the last of the mass deaths to be documented. A marine-biology professor at Oregon State University, Bruce Menge, said that the starfish disease could be the first of similar events to happen in the future.

According to the Toronto Star, a study was released in Plos One, an online scientific journal. The study reported that the Arctic Island could, as a result of climate change, be ice-less that could affect the marine ecosystem and the polar bear as well. The polar bears would be affected as they are the top predators of the marine life.

The lead author of a major study of ocean pathogens that was published last year, Colleen Burge, was also a research associate at the University of Washington. He said that the the scientists were going to see more infectious-disease outbreaks in the ocean. According to him, any organism that was going to undergo more stress or have a lower genetic diversity was more susceptible to it.