HUNDREDS of fish have been seen washed up on the seafront in the last couple of days.

People have captured images in Seaford and Hove of hundreds of fish washing up on the beaches, with some still alive.

The whitebait are thought to have been chased by mackerel and got stranded on the beach.

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

People have captured videos of the fish in Brighton and Hove recently, while a reader sent The Argus a picture of similar scenes on Seaford beach.

 

Zachary Beal, who lives in Kemptown, Brighton, saw the fish while out swimming yesterday. 

He said: "I was going for my daily snorkel and I saw them on the horizon I saw this big swirl of them, these big areas of them [mackerel] chasing the whitebait.

"There was two girls in the water and the huge swarm divided around them and they started screaming, it was quite funny.

"I looked on the beach and it was all glimmering down the beach. Then I got in from my snorkel and the fisherman who always fishes where I swim, he let me use his net and I swooped through and every time I swooped through you would get hundreds of little whitebait."

Zachary said he had a "feast" on the stranded fish with his friends last night.

The Argus: The fish in Seaford.The fish in Seaford.

Other people took to Facebook, with one commenter on Brighton People Facebook page saying: “light dusting of flour and deep fry”.

Another said: “Saw some of these wash up on the beach the other day. Seagulls pounced and the fish lasted a matter of seconds!

John Elvins said: “Looks like the bass have had a feeding frenzy, driving the whitebait onto the beach.”

While David Fish said: “Breakfast… deep dry scrambled egg, a squeeze of lemon…”

John Humphrey added: “It’s normal for this time of year, it’s just mackerel feeding there miles of them all along the coast.”

Mackerel are known to herd whitebait into shallow water which often causes them to become beached.