Between Seatown and Eype, on the West Dorset coast (part of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site), there is a remarkable layer of rock known as the Eype Starfish Bed. This is famous for exquisitely brittle starfish (brittlestars) fossils that are usually preserved on the soft, sandy underside of a thick sandstone unit within the Middle Lias. It has been speculated that they became buried during a single storm or possibly even a tsunami event, about 185mya.

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Richard Edmonds is Earth Science Manager of the Jurassic Coast Team.

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