Tens of thousands of starfish have been discovered washed up along the Pembrokeshire coastline in a huge mass stranding.
The creatures were spotted along the beach from Coppet Hall in Saundersfoot all the way up to Tenby and there are reported to be tens of thousands of them.
Giles Davies, an amateur nature photographer, shared a snapshot of the starfish along the shore.
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He said: “I have never seen something like this before. It’s really sad to just see that in nature, because you’re looking at deaths in the thousands of one species.
“That would kind of make sense because Tenby is the first place where the tide turns in Wales, so when you get strandings they come to shore generally in that area. But it’s the sheer volume, you’re always going to get winter tides where stuff will come ashore.”
Giles added: “For that volume to come ashore, no, something seriously has gone wrong with nature.”
The Marine Conservation Society has indicated that the mass deaths could have been caused by extreme weather.
Marine biologist Jake Davies, who works for the Angel Shark Project Wales, also said stormy conditions could lead to starfish being stranded on the sand.
He said: “This type of event of stranding does occur following a big storm along with big tides. Every year there are images of large strandings of starfish coming ashore.
He said a similar event was seen on a Gower beach last year where rock pools were full of starfish.
Mr Davies added: “It’s an incredible thing to see, it’s very, very sad, but it’s an incredible thing to see.”
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