Mass stranding

A mass stranding is the arrival on a beach of a number of similar creatures, often left clear of the water as the tide ebbs, frequently resulting in the deaths of most of them. It can be a specific form of fish kill and is one of the four types of strandings, with the other three being single strandings, mass mortalities and out of habitat situations. ^[1]

Species affected

Mass stranding events are known for many species, particularly cetaceans, but also including weedy seadragons, ^[2] starfish, ^{[3] [4] [5]} jellyfish, ^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]} and various fish species including the Slender sunfish ^{[13] [14]} and Atlantic saury. ^[15]

Causes

Strandings can be due to either natural or anthropogenic causes. Natural causes can include one species herding another (e.g. mullet or menhaden) into shallows in a feeding frenzy. ^{[16] [1]} Reasons for the latter can include, for cetaceans, chemical pollution toxin, plastics ingestion, fisheries, vessel collision, sonar activities, and anthropogenic noise, ^[17] in addition to mortalities through strandings resulting from dolphin drive hunting.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. Moore, Simeone & Brownell 2018.
2. Booth, David J.; Trevor-Jones, Andrew; Klanten, Selma; Beretta, Giglia A. (2025). "Mass stranding of common (weedy) seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) in Sydney: impacts and implications". Journal of Fish Biology. 107 (1): 312–316. Bibcode:2025JFBio.107..312B. doi:10.1111/jfb.70019. ISSN   1095-8649. PMC   12327173 . PMID   40083044.
3. "'Starballing' starfish may hold clue to mystery of mass strandings". University of Plymouth. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
4. Forgrave, Andrew (27 March 2024). "Weird 'starballing' mode may have caused mass starfish strandings in North Wales". North Wales Live. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
5. Franklin, Beth (9 September 2025). "'Starfish apocalypse': Thousands of sea creatures wash up on Scots beach". STV News. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
6. Duncombe, Jenessa (31 March 2021). "Why Trillions of Jellyfish Washed Ashore from Canada to California". Eos. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
7. "Cold snap could have killed thousands of jellyfish in Cornwall". www.bbc.com. 16 November 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
8. Quindoza, Ray (7 August 2025). "These Giant Jellyfish Keep Washing Up on U.S. Beaches". Animals Around The Globe. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
9. Mghili, Bilal; Analla, Mohamed; Aksissou, Mustapha (1 March 2022). "Medusae (Scyphozoa and hydrozoa) from the Moroccan Mediterranean coast: abundance and spatiotemporal dynamics and their economic impact". Aquatic Ecology. 56 (1): 213–226. Bibcode:2022AqEco..56..213M. doi:10.1007/s10452-021-09910-0 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.
10. Aksissou, Mustapha (2020). "Temporal Dynamics of Jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca Stranded on the Mediterranean Coast of Morocco". Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 21 (2) -v21_2_04: 87–94. Bibcode:2020TJFAS..21...87M. doi:10.4194/1303-2712-V21_2_04 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.
11. Majda Aouititen; Ratiba Bekkali; Driss Nachit; Xiaofeng Luan; Mohammed Mrhraoui (January 2019). "Predicting Jellyfish Strandings in the Moroccan North-West Mediterranean Coastline". European Scientific Journal. 15 (2). doi:10.19044/esj.2019.v15n2p72. ISSN   1857-7431.
12. Baliarsingh, Sanjiba Kumar; Jena, Amit Kumar; Srichandan, Suchismita; Raulo, Susmita; Joseph, Sudheer; Balakrishnan Nair, T. M.; Barik, Kamal Kumar (13 April 2023). "A scientific basis for fish mass mortality and jellyfish beach stranding in relation to cyclone yaas". Journal of Coastal Conservation. 27 (2): 15. Bibcode:2023JCC....27...15B. doi:10.1007/s11852-023-00944-0. ISSN   1874-7841.
13. "A Marine Rarity. Shoal of Stranded Sunfish". The West Australian. 14 April 1928 – via nla.gov.au.
14. "Albany Sunfish. Rare Fish Found Locally". Albany Advertiser. 9 June 1941 – via nla.gov.au.
15. "Mass strandings of rare fish baffle Orkney residents". 11 December 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
16. "Dolphin Strand Feeding on Kiawah Island". www.timberskiawah.com. 14 March 2025. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
17. Liu, Mingming; Lin, Mingli; Li, Songhai (May 2022). "Species diversity and spatiotemporal patterns based on cetacean stranding records in China, 1950–2018". Science of the Total Environment. 822 153651. Bibcode:2022ScTEn.82253651L. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153651. PMID   35124055.

Sources

• Moore, Kathleen M.; Simeone, Claire A.; Brownell, Robert L. (2018). "Strandings". Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804327-1.00249-1. ISBN   978-0-12-804327-1 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.
• Perrin, William F.; Geraci, Joseph R. (2009). "Stranding". Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-373553-9.00256-x. ISBN   978-0-12-373553-9 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.
• Sheehan, Emma V.; Cousens, Sophie L. (2017). ""Starballing": a potential explanation for mass stranding". Marine Biodiversity. 47 (2): 617–618. Bibcode:2017MarBd..47..617S. doi:10.1007/s12526-016-0504-3. ISSN   1867-1616 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.