Video: A fishy graveyard - thousands of fish stranded at Westward Ho!

Thousands of tiny fish were left stranded in the sea pool at Westward Ho! on Wednesday after being driven ashore in a panic by hordes of hungry mackerel.

Many were shocked at the sheer numbers of dead and dying fish in the pool, with thousands perishing as the oxygen in the water was used up.

This is an entirely natural phenomenon and quite common during the summer months, as mackerel and other predators herd shoals of bait fish into the shallows in a feeding frenzy, with the smaller fish literally hurling themselves ashore in their panic to escape.

The small fish have not been identified but are possibly juvenile herrings or sprats. They are often known as whitebait and served in restaurants.

Huge shoals of mackerel are around much of the North Devon coast at present and these feeding frenzies are often seen by local anglers, though very rarely as extensive as the ones seen in the past week.

Lynsey Southern, of The Bluetits sea swimming group at Westward Ho! shared videos of the carnage on Facebook and described the sea pool as ‘a fishy graveyard’.

On Thursday, Torridge District Council staff Pete Williams and Adrian Redwood attended to open the valve and drain the pool, releasing as many of the fish as possible and removing the dead ones.

Some concerned locals also did their best to capture live fish in buckets and release them back into the sea.

With the help of SEL Clarke, the pool is now mostly empty, but the council said the valve would stay open until Monday (July 24) to flush out any remaining sludge and debris.

The pool will then be sealed and refilled, but the public have been asked not to use the pool until the work has been completed.