Large Stranding of Starfish Washes Up in Ramsgate After Rain

A large stranding of marine life washed up on a shore in England following rainy weather on Wednesday, February 28, footage shows.

Footage filmed by wildlife conservationist and blogger Nik Mitchell/Get Wild shows a mass stranding of starfish, crabs, whelks, and sea urchins washed up on the shore of Ramsgate Beach.

“Starfish do get stranded like this in mass numbers and it’s literally always after we’ve had stormy weather and rough seas,” Mitchell said. “All these creatures that are on the shallow seabed are the ones vulnerable to the rough weather.” Credit: Nik Mitchell/Get Wild via Storyful

Video transcript

- I'm down at Ramsgate Beach, where we've got a mass stranding of starfish. Take a look at this. All the way along, absolutely thousands of starfish. And this does happen. Starfish do get stranded like this in mass numbers. And it's literally always after we've had stormy weather and rough seas. So echidermines are very vulnerable to salinity and water as well. So if a lot of fresh water enters the ocean, it can affect them too.

And it's going to be the rough weather that washed this lot up, not so much the change in temperature. Just the-- all these creatures live on the seabed, so in the shallows. There'll be other things in here as well washing up. Let's see what we can find. So here we go. We've got some crabs and some sea urchins, little sea urchins, and lots and lots of whelk shells as well.

See these? So these are whelk shells. So our sea snails. And all these creatures that are on the shallow seabed are the ones vulnerable to the rough weather. Here we go. We've got a spider crab here, a spider crab as well. So that's what it is. And it's nothing really to worry about too much, these mass strandings of starfish, because they do occur in big numbers. And they do really bounce back when they spawn.

Starfish are incredible creatures. They can actually grow back a limb if a limb comes off. And their stomach is in the middle there. And they've actually got thousands and thousands of tiny feet on them. And they have a crude eye on the end of each leg as well. Starfish are fascinating. So, yeah, a mass stranding of starfish on the beach. It's been rough out there the last couple of days. Cheers, guys. Get wild.