Storms spell disaster for constellation of starfish

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More than 10,000 starfish died after being washed on to a beach on the North Norfolk coast during heavy storms.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/e ... 949528.ece
Experts believe the creatures congregated in the shallows to feed on mussels but were washed on to the beach by a fast-moving high tide and gale-force winds.

Nigel Croasdale, from Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary, said the starfish would have only survived for a few hours without water. “This type of thing may happen once a year, depending on the weather. When the tide returns, the bodies are usually washed back into the sea.”

Margaret Wright, 63, from Gayton, Norfolk, who works as a dispenser in a pharmacy, said she had rounded a sand dune to see a carpet of orange on the shore line.

She said: “The sight of all these little creatures dying on the beach was horrendous. We only went on a short walk and found a starfish graveyard. It’s a long stretch of beach and there were just thousands of them littering the shore line for as far you could see. The funny thing is that further down the beach we found a starfish which was still alive and put him back in the water.

“Now he’s not going to have any friends — he’s going to be floating around out there by himself.”

Holkham National Nature Reserve is one of the largest reserves in Britain and its 10-mile stretch of coastline was a setting for the 1998 film Shakespeare In Love.

Starfish feed by pushing their mouths out of their stomachs and digesting other sea creatures using enzymes. They are abundant in the Atlantic Ocean and if they lose one of their five arms have the ability to grow it back.

They feed on mussels, crustaceans, worms, and have rows of tubes on the underside of the arms which stick to their prey. The mouth is on the underside of the upper body.

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Mass grave: More than 10,000 starfish died


Dislodged: It is thought that the starfish had gathered near the shore to feast on their favourite food of mussels

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... s-sea.html