Galicia has agreed to a cull of the creatures, which are turning up in unusually large numbers and feasting on the region’s key export

Galicia, in north-west Spain, has declared war on an apparently inoffensive creature that is putting livelihoods under threat.

The region’s shellfish farmers say that an unusually large population of starfish has begun devouring their crop of mussels, cockles and clams. They recently obtained permission from the regional government to cull the starfish, and divers have been hauling up hundreds of kilos a day.