STRANDINGS AND DEAD STARLINGS
The end of 2019 was marked by a strange stranding in California and a mass bird death in Wales
INVASION OF THE PENIS FISH
On 6 December, thousands of pulsating, fat innkeeper worms (Urechis caupo), about 10in (25cm) long, washed up on Drakes Beach, about 50 miles (80km) north of San Francisco. Although a worm, they are widely referred to as “penis fish” (can’t think why). Their innkeeper moniker comes from their tunnels, which other creatures use for accommodation. They are a type of spoonworm (Echiuroidea), an order of non-segmented marine worms identified by a spatulashaped proboscis used for feeding and sometimes grasping or swimming. U. caupo is the sole representative in North America, found only from southern Oregon to Baja, with the bulk of sightings between Bodega Bay and Monterey.
The fat innkeeper is perfectly shaped for a life spent underground. Within a beach or mudflat, it digs a U-shaped burrow extending a few feet but no wider than the worm itself. The burrow’s front entrance pokes up like a little sand chimney. These can be seen clustered around the low tide line of a mudflat or sandy beach. The backdoor is marked by a pile of worm castings, which get projected out the end of the tunnel with a blast of water from the worm’s hindquarters. While they normally bury themselves deep in the sand, those on Drakes Beach were uprooted by storms.
There is fossil evidence of the creatures dating back 300 million years – and some live for up to 25 years. Penis fish are
eaten by several other creatures, including sharks, otters – and us. Urechis unicinctus, the species found in East Asia, is a delicacy in countries including South Korea. baynature.org, 10 Dec; BBC News, 13 Dec 2019.
STARLING APOCALYPSE
On the afternoon of Tuesday, 10 December, Hannah Stevens was on her way to see the doctor in Bodedern, Anglesey, North Wales. Near Llyn Llywenan, she saw a “massive flock” of starlings – a murmuration – flying overhead before landing and appearing to eat something in the narrow lane. On her way back at about 3.40pm, she found
the birds lying dead all along the road. Dafydd Edwards (41), her partner, went to see for himself and filmed the macabre scene. “There’s easily more than 300 of them,” he said. “I counted 150 last night but I gave up as there’s just hundreds of them littered everywhere. It’s as if they just dropped down dead from the sky.” The police counted around 225 in the road with many more scattered in the hedges – but, strangely, none at all in the fields either side of the road. The Animal and Plant Health Agency collected specimens for post mortem examination. Rob Taylor, Team Manager for North Wales Police’s Rural Crime
Team, said the deaths were “an absolute and complete mystery”, adding: “We’re hearing one story that it happened in exactly the same place many, many years ago so we’re just trying to confirm that.” dailypost.co.uk, BBC News, 11 Dec 2019.
For unexplained mass starling deaths in the Netherlands a year ago (November 2018), see FT375:22. Fortean Times has been reporting odd avian fatalities since the mass plummet of pelicans over Texas on 13 April 1974 [FT6:15]. For the most recent ‘Aflockalypse Now!’ events, see FT206:9, 221:20, 225:20, 274:20, 286:10, 347:10.