After a devastating disease that has killed millions of starfish, scientists have found hope for a rebound by the number of juvenile starfish.

The Associated Press reported that biologist Ben Miner recently took count of the number of starfish off Lopez Island. Miner and another diver only counted about 24 adult starfish in the waters, but noticed some young starfish and researchers have reported seeing hundreds of juveniles in the same area.

"Babies. That's what we hope for," said Miner, who is an associate professor of biology at Western Washington University. "If you're hoping for sea star populations to recover, it's the best news you can get to be able to go to sites and see that there are babies."

The disease that has caused a massive die-off of the sea creatures since 2013 causes the starfish to rip off their own limbs and eventually dissolve.

NEWSER noted that the wasting syndrome caused populations in certain parts of the deep to deplete by as much as 99 percent. So seeing that many juveniles even survived the die-off is extremely encouraging.

Young starfish are often found hidden in crevices as they prefer to make their homes under reef rocks and rubble away from predators, until they are large enough to travel for food.

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