The coastal community of Seaside, Oregon, is glistening with thousands of anchovies that tried to swim up the Necanicum River July 28 -- and died.

The small, silvery fish entered the river in downtown Seaside during high tide and then expired.

Marine biologists indicate it's really not unusual for anchovies to die on the river, although when there's a high tide, an uncommon number of anchovies try to swim upstream, get stranded and either return to the ocean or get eaten by birds, said a report by USA Today.

But, Tiffany Boothe, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Coast Aquarium, said in a report aired by local KPTV-TV that the fish died this week because there wasn't enough oxygen in the river to support all of the fish attempted the run.

While Boothe noted that while mass die-offs aren't unusual, there were more dead fish left from the latest run than typical.

Boothe speculated the dead fish could prove a boon for birdwatchers, because the deceased anchovies could attract a lot of birds who feed on the fish.

However, "It's going to smell for a couple of days probably ...It kind of looks like the apocalypse," Penny Russell, a spectator visiting from Portland told WGNO.com, "I saw thousands of fish and I thought, 'That's sad. What's happened?' I've never seen anything like this before."

Melyssa Graeper, coordinator for the Necanicum Watershed Council, described the episode as "kind of a cool and good indicator that things are working right now."

She explained the die-off is actually a good sign for anchovies because it demonstrates the fish population is strong and "there are so many of them, they're looking for other places to go," she said.

Likewise, Graeper said, the dead fish are good for the river because when the fish decompose, the nutrients from their remains are absorbed by the river and plants that live near the river.