Last week hundreds of starfish were washed up on the beach at Wardie Bay, but some or all could have been saved, according to experts.
Whether or not the starfish were dead is unclear as we have been advised that the sea creatures can live in the “intertidal zone where they are regularly exposed to air for up to 6 hours”.
Professor Sandy Tudhope, Chair of Climate Studies, School of GeoSciences, at University of Edinburgh, told us: “The suggestion in the BBC report that it was an unusual combination of weather and waves that dislodged the starfish seems reasonable.”
Although the weather was cold and stormy elsewhere in Scotland conditions were relatively settled in and around the Forth.
But Angela Jones, a PhD student and Josie Wagner, a Master’s student at Northeastern University in Massachussetts, are currently specialising in a study of starfish on the eastern seaboard of the United States. We sent the photos to them at Northeastern for analysis.
Ms Jones first confirmed that the starfish in the photos were not victims of “Sea Star Wasting Disease”. This is a disease which began appearing in 2013 and decimated the starfish population. The disease results in the animal’s arms breaking off and the rest of its body becoming shapeless. She said it looked as though the creatures were brought up by the currents – particularly with all the seaweed present in the photos.
The Marine and Environmental Sciences doctoral candidate said: “I am actually not convinced that the sea stars that you photographed were dead. They can survive being out of water for many hours, and you can check if they are still alive if their tube feet (the small suckers on their underside) are still moving.
“In the photos, it looks like the tube feet are out in some capacity (not receded/contracted like we see in our dead stars). Of course, I would feel better about that if I could see the Asterias rubens (the species it appears you have on the beach) close up. I can’t see any other species, and from your images, I do not see any lesions or wounds from wave/rock impact. They all look healthy and alive.”
Signs of life
In Ms Wagner’s view, the starfish in the photographs may well have been alive. She said: “Since some of the pictures you sent showed stars upside down — a position often interpreted as meaning they are dead — we wanted to see how our stars behave when inverted. To test the star’s ability to flip over in the air and out of the water, I set up a couple of trials to see how our stars did when inverted outside of water. Though we did see some movement, none of the stars were able to flip themselves after 40 minutes to 1 hr, which is a stark difference from the couple of minutes this usually takes while in water and shows the difficulty these stars had in this position and environment.
“It is worth noting that because these are creatures without faces, it can be incredibly hard to tell if they are dead. A good indicator of this is the movement of tube feet. I have also attached a photo of a live star that did not display tube-foot movement when inverted, as this is not always a clear indicator.”
So the advice from the experts is that the starfish could well have been saved, if turned over, and if put back in the water (although an incoming tide would also have helped).
Swimmer, Hannah Foster, 27, told the BBC that she and her swim partners did try to help. She said: “It was really sad and bizarre to see them all washed up and tangled in the seaweed. There were so many.
“It was so cold that half of them were all frozen and dead.
“We did a short swim and took some with us that looked like they still had colour in a bid to save them, I don’t know if it would have done anything but you always have to try in these situations.
“A local who has lived near the bay for the last five years said this has only happened once before, it is not a normal sight.”
Earlier stranding
Dr Lyndsey Dodds, Oceans Recovery Policy Manager at WWF Scotland told STV News last September, when hundreds of starfish washed up on the shore at Kirkcaldy, that although it’s “disturbing” to see so many starfish washed up in one place, it’s likely a natural event.
“It’s not totally clear why this has happened, the most likely cause is a natural one such as increasing storms and high tides.”
At that time there had been stormy conditions at sea and the response by the starfish to that could have led to them ending up on the beach in great numbers.
She said: “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.”
