Edward Bol's dog Max looks at the dead fish on Pentwean beach near St Austell.
Edward Bol's dog Max looks at the dead fish on Pentwean beach near St Austell.
Thousands of dead fish were washed up on a beach on Cornwall this morning, leaving walkers - and, looking at the picture above, a dog called Max - baffled.

The discovery was made on Pentewan Beach near St Austell this morning.

The dead fish, which are believed to be either mackerel or herring appeared on the popular east-facing beach overnight.

Edward Bol, from Mevagissey, was walking his dog Max, when he saw the fish and said he thinks they are mostly herring with a few mackerel. Posting pictures of the scene on his Twitter account, @edbol he asked: "Why?"

Since the fish were found, Cornwall seaguls have been feasting on the remains and the beach is now covered in bits of fish carcass and seagull poo.

Earlier this year hundreds of jellyfish were stranded on Perranporth beach and the cause was again unknown.

These photos show that thousands of fish have washed up.
These photos show that thousands of fish have washed up.
In 2014, hundreds of tiny, dead whitebait were found washed up at Mullion Harbour on the Lizard. At that time the same phenomenon had been reported all along the south coast as far as Dorset.

The fish get driven into shore after they are chased by predators - in that case mackerel.

Bob Felce, who has written a book on the history of the cove, said in 2014 that it was an extremely rare sight.

"It is a rare occurrence. One fisherman who has lived here for over 60 years says he can only remember this happening on two or three previous occasions," he said.

"Mullion is an enclosed, small harbour so the trap was laid when they chased them in. The coast around the Lizard has been full of mackerel for a couple of weeks; I had a few hours in a boat off Coverack last week and you could almost walk on them.

"I understand that the price in Newlyn has gone rock bottom."

A similar incident happened in Norway in 2012 when tens of thousands of herring were found up on Kvaenes beach.

Experts suggested that they could have been killed in a storm and washed ashore or by a predator driving the shoal into shallow waters where they became trapped. Another theory was that fresh water from a nearby river caused their death.