-- Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of Lake Michigan.
"It brings back the horror stories we used to have in Milwaukee with the enormous populations of alewives would wash up and destroy our beaches," said Dan Steininger, of Milwaukee.
Experts said small, shiny fishes, called alewives, have been dying off and showing up on beaches around Lake Michigan in recent weeks.
WISN 12 News found them at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee and at Doctor's Park in Fox Point.
"Usually, when they die off, it creates a layer of fish in the water and stuff. You can see some in their last throws in the lake, but it's not too bad," said Chris Reed-Waddell, of Milwaukee.
These fish are invasive species, local experts said, and it's not unusual for them to die off and wash up on shore.
Dr. Harvey Bootsma of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Water Institute said alewives have made their way to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic ocean, but conditions there are a little rougher than what they're used to in the marine environment.
"And usually around this time of year when they're spawning, and there's rapid temperature changes in the lake. We do get die-offs," Bootsma said.
Experts said they believe the die-offs this year look larger than usual because alewives had a successful spawn last year.
"So they produced a lot of young last year. Those young are about 1-year-old now, and so we're probably just seeing more die-offs this year just because there were more fish in the lake this year," Bootsma said.
Experts said there's no reason for concern because the die-off could be over within a couple of weeks as wind and currents push the fish off the shore.
Like i said before its harrp at work