MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., April 6 (UPI) -- Thousands of starfish have washed up on a beach in South Carolina, victims of rough seas that dislodged them from their rock homes, wildlife officials said.
Turbulent water caused by rough weather Monday night is thought to have washed the starfish ashore on the north end of Pawleys Island, The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News reported.
Mandy Coble said she was walking with her children and friends on the island Monday night when they first saw "hundreds" of the starfish.
By Tuesday morning, Coble said, there were "thousands ... piled on top of one another."
Coble said she thought they were all dead, but wildlife officials said they are probably not.
"It's harder to tell, but if you turn them over you'll see their little feet moving," Phil Maier, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources' Marine Division, said.
Island residents don't need to pick up the starfish or try to return them to the ocean, Maier said.
"Nature will take care of them," he said.