More than 300 fish were discovered floating in a pond today.

Hundreds more were gasping for air at the surface.

Valerie Burglin, who walks her dog by the pond in Falmer, Brighton, every morning, said: "It was a terrible sight.

"They were at the side of the pond trying to get oxygen and hundreds of dead bodies were floating on top.

"I was there yesterday and there was no problem at all."

This morning an official from the Environment Agency was at the pond trying to stop the entire fish population dying.

A build-up of algae had robbed the pond of oxygen, suffocating the fish. An Environment Agency spokesman said: "This happens in ponds occasionally because of various contributing factors, including heavy rain."

That has left the fish, including carp and golden rudd, suffocating.

Roger Musselle, owner of Roger's Pet and Garden Centre in Woodingdean, contacted the Environment Agency after a customer called him about the situation.

He said: "They need pumping equipment to quickly get oxygen back into the water, otherwise all the fish will be wiped out.

"Apparently there are problems in getting it to the site quickly enough but something needs to be done soon."

"There are already hundreds lying on the surface and others are dying all the time."

Valerie Hunt, of Kimberly Road, Brighton, drove up to Falmer Pond at about 10am to feed the ducks.

She said: "It was a horrible sight seeing all these dead fish. There were some still alive but they were gasping for air on the surface with their mouths open."

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