On the German North Sea island of Sylt this weekend, millions of starfish, many of them young, washed ashore and died on the beaches during a storm. It happens time and time again that thousands of starfish wash up, but this time there are a particularly large number.
On Sylt’s West Beach, hikers are currently encountering an uncontrollably large number of starfish. According to information from the National Park Administration, the mostly annual starfish are torn out en masse from the subsurface – such as mussel beds – when the sea is heavily disturbed by storms.
The phenomenon repeats itself regularly
They cannot hold on to the sandy soil and end up on the beach. Sylt’s conservation ambassador Charlie Esser said they were mainly starfish with a diameter of several centimeters. This phenomenon repeats itself regularly and is completely normal. According to the information, it does not have a major impact on the animal population.
Animals are not suitable as prey
The starfish, which is not very nutritious, is hardly suitable as prey for other animals, as the biologist from the Multimar Wattforum National Park Center in Tönning, Claus von Hoerschelmann, had previously explained. Even seagulls wouldn’t be very interested in it.
Source: Krone
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