THOUSANDS of fish have continued to wash up on a beach.

Shocked beachgoers have been finding thousands of small fish on Hove seafront over the last few weeks.

Brighton resident Simona Kormanova captured a photograph of hundreds of living whitebait stranded on the beach on Sunday afternoon.

She said: “The fish tried to survive, and people tried to help them back to the sea but it was not possible to do anything to save them.”

The whitebait are thought to have been chased by mackerel before becoming stranded.

Charlotte Owen, Wildcall officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, has explained the phenomenon.

She said: “This is the result of a feeding frenzy. There have been large shoals of whitebait, small juvenile fish, along the Sussex coast recently, attracting a wide range of predators.

“Mackerel and other predatory fish will deliberately drive the whitebait into shallow water close to the beach so that it’s easier to catch them – though the mackerel are in turn picked off by larger predators, like dolphins.

“In the chaos, some whitebait may leap too far out of the water in their attempts to escape and accidentally throw themselves onto the beach, while others are washed up by waves and stranded as the tide goes out.

“Gulls, crabs and other scavengers will soon pick off any stranded fish. Though it may look distressing, an abundance of juvenile fish is a positive sign of a healthy marine ecosystem.”

Earlier this month, people reported seeing flocks of seagulls feasting on the fish, while others suggested taking them home to cook, and one snorkeler took the opportunity to catch his dinner.

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