A rare mass stranding of starfish on Moreton Island which left a tour guide and his group stunned
Tour guide Rhett Ericsen-Miller stumbled upon the stranded sealife with a tour group near Tangalooma Wrecks, a fleet of shipwrecks, in southeast Queensland's Moreton Island.
The video he uploaded on Facebook has amassed nearly 20 thousand views, while scientists are unsure of exactly what caused the mass stranding.
The vision shows a long stretch of the island's shore lined with the fish, making it impossible to throw them all back into the water.
A Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service spokeswoman told Brisbane Times it could have been caused by strong winds or a dramatic change in water temperatures.
'As far as we are aware it's a natural phenomenon, and at this stage we have no information to indicate otherwise,' she said.
Comment: It is not only Australia where the "length and intensity of the fire season" is increasing. A study has shown that wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth.
Globally we are witnessing extensive wildfires, which in some regions have been described as "unprecedented". The National Interagency Fire Center has described the 2015 wildfire season in the United States as a record breaker. The Amazon jungle is going up in smoke with tens of thousands of wildfires so far this year. Wildfires in Indonesia are causing a toxic haze which threatens millions in southeast Asia.
Rather than attributing this increase to "climate change" which "causes temperatures to rise", could a significant factor in the escalation of these wildfires be that they are fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes and other 'cosmic' ignition sources?