NAVARRE BEACH, Fla. — Thousands of starfish washed up on Navarre Beach after Hurricane Sally, a grim parting gift from the tropical cyclone that devastated the Florida Panhandle last week.
The starfish washed up overnight Friday and were discovered Saturday morning, according to Danny Fureigh, chief of Navarre Beach Fire Rescue. Fureigh said he’s seen such a phenomenon once before, a few years ago, but never anything of this magnitude.
“There are thousands and thousands of them,” he said, noting that they were present pretty much from the Turner House (the lifeguard headquarters) all the way to Opal Beach.
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Fureigh suspects the mass starfish beaching has something to do with water toxicity following the hurricane. The water quality was so bad Friday that Navarre lifeguards flew double red flags.
“You have this big surge of water coming inland from several miles out, and then washing back out with everything it touches,” he said. “It’s like a big toilet bowl, pretty much. We were the only beach flying double red flags because of the water quality. We wouldn’t want our families swimming in that.”
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Charlene Mauro, director of the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station, said the answer is much more simple: it has to do with winds and currents.
“It’s about the wind patterns and currents coming ashore. Those type of starfish are gray starfish, a kind that washed up sometimes after storms, but never in this kind of abundance,” she said. “It’s happened in other places before, but I’ve never seen it here. It’s the strong water and currents coming onto shore, and they feed in the inner tidal area.”
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Mauro said the oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is actually higher right now because of all the wave action, and oxygen is healthy for the starfish. But the celestial critters will likely die on the beach unless they’re washed back into the Gulf with the tides.
“It’s a natural thing that happens after a storm,” she said. “It’s just like when people go to the beach and collect shells. Unfortunately, this time, it’s starfish.”
Annie Blanks can be reached at [email protected] or 850-435-8632.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Hurricane Sally: Thousands of starfish wash up on Florida beach