Thousands of sardines have washed up on the coast as locals fear a natural disaster is about to strike.
Images show a large school of fish in shallow waters at a port.
The bizarre scenes were filmed at Ishikari Bay in Japan on 10 April.
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The rare sight prompted local fishermen to take advantage of the situation and catch bucketfuls of the epipelagic fish.
Many residents also grabbed their fishing rod and tackle, and headed to the coast.
One fisherman told local media: “This is very unusual, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
In response to the phenomenon, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, research director of the Hokkaido Fisheries Research Station, pointed out that sardines prefer warm waters above 10°C.
The waters in Ishikari Bay have been much warmer than normal for this time of year.
Large numbers were also reported in Rumoi City where authorities said they had to deal with 1.4 tons of dead fish along the coastline.
Many locals believe the unusual scenes are a precursor to a natural disaster, as reported by Need To Know.
One resident commented: “I hope there won’t be an earthquake.”
Another wrote: “This often happens as a sign of a coming natural disaster, like what happened during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.”
“A large number of surf clams also washed ashore, I hope that doesn’t mean an earthquake is coming,” said someone else.
Another local commented: “I wonder if their distribution area is changing due to the rise in sea temperatures?”
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