The creatures were dislodged from the seabed in the rough waves and left strewn across the stone-covered sands as the tide went out.
Shocked walkers discovered the starfish on Southsea beach, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and tried to return any still alive to the water.
But a large number were already dead after being out of the water too long and some had even been thrown off the beach by the stormy conditions and onto the nearby promenade.
