Starfish 'ripping off their own arms'

Starfish off the United States coastline are ripping off their own appendages and dying in their thousands.

The Blaze reports that the spectacle on the North American Pacific coast is baffling scientists.

The mass die-off is leaving dismembered piles of mush that were once toughened starfish, according to The Blaze.

Scientists began noticing the deaths last year and labelled it 'sea star wasting syndrome'.

Ben Miner, a Western Washington University biology professor who is studying the star fish, said the arms just appeared to "crawl away and the guts just spilled out".

"The arms just crawl away from the particular body," he said.