Thousands of fish have been found dead on a beach after throwing themselves out of the sea onto the sand
Tourists at the popular visitor spot watched on in awe as the fish leapt out the sea dying piled up on the sand with some people even started gathering them up for food.
The phenomenon is known as a 'bluefish blitz' named after the bluefish, an aggressive marine hunter.
They herd smaller shoals of fish into shallow water to pick them off with ease.
As the prey is coaxed into an ever smaller spaces, and with the jaws of the bluefish snapping at them, they jump to try and escape often ending up on land.
The latest blitz was seen at Ocracoke beach off the coast of North Carolina.
A post on the Facebook page of Tradewinds Tackle, a local fishing store, explained what happened.
It read: "Bluefish have been blitzing the Ocracoke beach off and on the past couple of weeks.
"Amazingly beautiful and tragic at the same time. Smaller fish (mostly spot in these photos) are literally throwing themselves onshore to escape the teeth in the water."
Marybeth Druzbick of Sylva, North Carolina, saw it happening last Friday as she visited South Point on Ocracoke Island.
She wrote “This is one of the strangest things I’ve seen at the beach."
Ocracoke Island native Heather Johnson told Garden & Gun: “I’ve heard about blitzes before, but this was my first time witnessing one first-hand.
“The sound was more impressive to me than the sight - the sound of the ocean, the birds chirping with glee, and the splash of the fish flailing around.”
The 'blitzes' coincide with the seasonal southerly migration of the bluefish.
Ken DeBarth, who works for Tradewinds Tackle, said: “It’s pretty wild. It’s been going on now for a couple of weeks.
“I talked to some old-timers, and they said the last time they’d seen anything like it was in the seventies.”
Describing the anglers who have been taking their catch from the beach, he continued: “They can just go out there and pick them up by the bucketloads.”
Duane Shreeves wrote on Facebook: “Just pick them up. No hook needed. Crazy!”
“Enough spot (fish) to feed 1,000’s of folks,” John Koster Jr. said.
Bluefish can grow up to 2ft long and have a ferocious bite. Keen anglers hoping to catch one should use thicker wire reels as the fish are known to bite right through some lines.
