THOUSANDS of fish have washed up on a beach. 

Shocked beachgoers have taken pictures of thousands of small fish on the seafront, opposite Hove Lawns, near Marrocco's ice cream parlour. 

The morning officer from the Brighton Seafront Team has explained the phenomenon.

He said: "What you have is whitebait that are being corralling by mackerel, you can see the large movement in the water. 

"They push the whitebait towards the shore - and these mackerel are sometimes chased by sea bass and sometimes the odd seal or dolphin.

"Once they are towards the shore, you can get a wave surge which leaves a large number of fish deposited on the beach. 

"They then try to flip themselves back into the water - but some do not make it and others are picked up by the seagulls."

The phenomenon was spotted yesterday at about 3.30pm, with residents reporting the sea "coming alive with bouncing fish".

One beachgoer, who witnessed the aftermath this morning, said: "I came down to the beach and saw something shining, so I went closer and saw it was all of these little fish.

"I've never seen anything like this before"