Kapiti Coast locals have been met with a strange sighting along their beaches as well as a rather unpleasant smell.
Beaches along the Kapiti Coast have been covered by swarms of krill.
Swarms of krill are littering 10 kilometres of the Kapiti Coast, with locals reporting sightings of them from Paekakariki beach to Waikane.
Local lifeguard Abe Mcpherson says that the experience hasn't been the most pleasant
"You came down Pukerua bay hill and you could smell it. It wasn't very pleasant. When we came down you could see the discolouration across the shoreline and it didn't look very nice. "
Marine expert and associate professor at Otago University, Miles Lamare, says despite this unusual sighting it's not an uncommon event.
Nytiphanes Australis krill, the scientific name for the krill littering the beach, form in large swarms during the spring time and summer because phytoplankton levels are at an all-time high.
Phytoplanktons are microscopic organisms that live in both fresh and salt water.
Prof Lamare says the most likely explanation to the krill swarm is recent strong winds which washed the large swarm ashore.
Newshub.
