‘Starfish apocalypse’ as thousands wash up on Scottish beach after stormy seas
A mass stranding of thousands of starfish in Scotland left locals stunned, with experts saying stormy seas and tides likely swept the animals ashore.
(Photo credit: Fife Jammer Locations)
Thousands of starfish have washed up along a stretch of beach in Fife, United Kingdom, prompting locals to dub the mass stranding a “starfish apocalypse.”
Photos and videos shared on social media showed dark piles of starfish covering the sand and spilling onto the promenade at Kirkcaldy. “It’s like something from a disaster movie,” one resident told The Scottish Sun.
Experts say the sight may be shocking, but the cause is most likely natural. Dr. Lyndsey Dodds of WWF Scotland told STV News the mass stranding was “disturbing” to see but was likely the result of storms and high tides. “What the starfish actually do in storm conditions is they roll up into a ball and they move with the waves and currents. So that can result in hundreds and thousands of them all coming together in one place,” she explained.
(Photo credit: Fife Jammer Locations)
Professor David Ferrier of the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St Andrews also pointed to rough seas. He told STV News that heavy waves and strong currents can sweep starfish off the seabed and carry them ashore. “This is most likely an unfortunate – for the starfish – natural event. Nothing to be worried about.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said such strandings are “a natural occurrence,” often caused by stormy weather or spawning. Similar events have been reported along Scotland’s east coast in previous years.
The Fife Coast and Countryside Trust told BBC Scotland that it inspected the site and would allow tides to reclaim the dead starfish, though the situation would be monitored. The Trust also urged dog walkers to keep pets away, since starfish can be poisonous to dogs.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
As Dr. Dodds noted, scientists say the phenomenon may also be linked to “starballing,” a behavior where starfish curl up and drift with currents, leaving them vulnerable to wash-ups when storms or high tides align. Dr. Emma Sheehan of Plymouth University’s Marine Institute told the BBC her team first observed the behavior a decade ago off southern England, adding that the Kirkcaldy stranding “looked particularly bad.”
While most experts agree the event will not significantly harm Scotland’s starfish populations, Dr. Dodds warned that climate change could make strandings more frequent. “Unfortunately, with climate change, we are seeing increasing storm events so it could be that we see more storms which could lead to more and more strandings like this, which could potentially impact marine life,” she said.
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