Whole Lotta Fish, Dead

Sign of The Apocalypse?

A couple trolls their boat through a mass of dead fish in the King Harbor marina in Redondo Beach. Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times)

Authorities said it appeared that a massive, churning ball of sardines, and some mackerel and anchovies, was chased toward shore over the last few days, primarily from a spring storm that brought wind gusts of 45 miles per hour off the coast last weekend. Hungry, migrating whales spotted offshore in recent days may have added to the sardines' plight.

So the sardines did what anyone might — they headed for safe harbor, to a picturesque complex of four marinas home to 1,400 boats, mostly private fishing boats, sailboats and cruisers, a jewel of an easygoing town of surf shops, dive bars and tanning salons.

There, they suffocated.

Pretty much lifted from here. AP slideshow.