Mass stranding
Stranding of many marine animals on a beach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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
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.[15][1] Reasons for the latter can include, for cetaceans, chemical pollution toxin, plastics ingestion, fisheries, vessel collision, sonar activities, and anthropogenic noise,[16] in addition to mortalities through strandings resulting from dolphin drive hunting.[citation needed]
