Thousands of dead crabs, lobsters, and fish washed up recently along Teesside beaches on the UK’s North East coast. Waist deep piles of seaweed and dead and dying crustaceans and fish have been reported. Variously described as the “worst case ever seen” and “apocalyptic,” an investigation is underway to attempt to determine the cause.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Samples of water, sediment, mussel and crab have been collected and are being sent to our labs for analysis, to consider whether a pollution incident could have contributed to the deaths of the animals.”

The BBC quotes Dr. Jamie Bojko, a sea life pathologist from Teesside University, who said: “There are a lot of us who are very concerned.

“There are a range of things which could explain it, one could be an extreme weather event or another possibility is disease, but it would be odd for it to have an effect on such a range of species, with everything from crabs and lobsters to fish species like dogfish and sharks and sole,” he said.

Fishermen in the area have told the North Eastern Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (NEIFCA) they are not fishing close to the shore because there is no catch.

Thousands Of Sea Creatures Wash Up Dead On UK Beaches In ‘Worst Case Ever Seen’

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.