Ramsgate beach

robfosters · 4 Mar 2018 at 15:53

This cold weather has killed off a lot of marine life around our coasts and because the cod are too far out to eat them, they've all washed up on Ramsgate beach. More is expected to wash up in the next few days. There's all manner of stuff including starfish, molluscs, crabs, fish. Really rather sad. I hope they're cleaned up quickly as they can go toxic when dead and if any dog eats them it could kill them.

https://theisleofthanetnews.com/eve...ne-life-could-be-washed-on-to-thanet-beaches/

Feek · 4 Mar 2018 at 15:57

Won't the birds eat that lot up pretty quickly?

robfosters · 4 Mar 2018 at 15:59

Feek said:
Won't the birds eat that lot up pretty quickly?

Looks way too much for birds to polish off.

SexyGreyFox · 4 Mar 2018 at 16:17

HoneyBadger · 4 Mar 2018 at 16:23

Golly.

Captain · 4 Mar 2018 at 16:29

Seagulls will have that cleared in a week, won’t the tide coming in, take most of it back out?

Brizzles · 4 Mar 2018 at 18:24

Those starfish will make handy trivets.

Dry them out , stick them on eBay as artisan crafted , sell for £20 each

FNG · 4 Mar 2018 at 18:55

From reading the article the birds have had it hard too. So this should help them fatten up so they don't suffer as much. Circle of life and all that

wolfie138 · 4 Mar 2018 at 19:12

don't realise how much stuff lives off the coast till something like that happens.

markoboyo11 · 4 Mar 2018 at 19:46

Birds won't eat starfish.....well seagulls definitely don't anyway.

danza · 4 Mar 2018 at 20:45

That's gonna absolutely stink.

moon man · 4 Mar 2018 at 20:49

never seen anything like that ,certainly not today in newquay ,4ft deep seaweed last year and the odd dead dolphin or seal maybe

Rroff · 4 Mar 2018 at 20:53

Wonder how much or if that is related to the last few years of relatively benign weather resulting in animals not migrating for warmer waters/climates as much as they used to - going into solar minimum now its probably going to be a colder few years for them over winter.

Freakbro · 4 Mar 2018 at 21:05

Rroff said:
Wonder how much or if that is related to the last few years of relatively benign weather resulting in animals not migrating for warmer waters/climates as much as they used to - going into solar minimum now its probably going to be a colder few years for them over winter.

Nothing to do with migration as that's starfish and crabs, but maybe the milder climes have facilitated their population growth and this cold snap has just had a lot to cull.

Interesting article on this very thing and it doesn't sound that rare

http://www.discoverwildlife.com/animals/marine/where-do-starfish-go-winter

In winter, starfish are often washed up on beaches following severe winds. In March 2008, for example, a five-mile stretch of the Kent coastline was littered with thousands of common sea stars Asterias rubens.

This species forms vast feeding aggregations on mussel beds at densities of hundreds per square metre. Why so many washed up remains a mystery, but it is possible that, having exhausted their food supply in deeper waters, they migrated to the shallows in search of prey before meeting their fate.

LabR@t · 5 Mar 2018 at 07:05

Chocolate starfish! That's a lot of dead fish

UTmaniac · 5 Mar 2018 at 07:25

Wow, you can barely see any sand in those photos l

Hopefully birds will polish off most of that before it becomes putrid.

D.P. · 5 Mar 2018 at 09:31

Freakbro said:
Nothing to do with migration as that's starfish and crabs, but maybe the milder climes have facilitated their population growth and this cold snap has just had a lot to cull.

Interesting article on this very thing and it doesn't sound that rare

http://www.discoverwildlife.com/animals/marine/where-do-starfish-go-winter

A lot fi also related to overfishing so the populations can grow much more rapidly and as the articles points out, might move to shallower water in search of food.

Eddie · 5 Mar 2018 at 10:02

The cold weather killed all that wildlife off?

I've never heard of the sea being too cold for crabs and fish before.

D.P. · 5 Mar 2018 at 10:35

Dr.Eddie said:
The cold weather killed all that wildlife off?

I've never heard of the sea being too cold for crabs and fish before.

Normally this sea life goes to deeper waters in winter to avoid the cold, but sometimes they can end up in shallower water for whatever reason, in particular a strong wind/tide/current that leaves them exposed.

Eddie · 5 Mar 2018 at 10:39

I wonder if it's a case of the wildlife being washed up onto the beach alive and then the cold weather has frozen them.

On Deadliest Catch they have to get the crab in the tanks sharpish or else they freeze and die.

I've seen small amounts of wildlife on beaches after storms but never to that extent.