Underwater videos could help explain why thousands of starfish are stranded on Welsh beaches
Storms this winter have left thousands of starfish lying stranded along the Welsh coast. Many starfish are still alive when they get washed ashore but many will die as they cannot survive being exposed in the air for too long.
A recent discovery of a starfish behaviour might help explain this phenomena. University of Plymouth scientists devised a novel method of “flying” an underwater video camera to record seabed creatures during big sea swells and strong tidal currents.
The flying video array floats just above the seabed and is towed behind a boat where scientists can watch the video feed live from the boat wheelhouse. While testing the video off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, during strong tidal currents, the team noticed hundreds of starfish curled up like parachutes, bouncing along the seabed.
Starfish were previously believed to be slow-moving creatures that only crawled over the seabed sticking fast using hundreds of tube feet. Seeing them fly past the screen was an unusual experience but this “starballing” behaviour could explain why the public are suddenly seeing masses of starfish being swept ashore. As they are flying along in big groups, those groups may get swept together on to beaches by storms.
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