Just after midday yesterday a large shoal of fish literally swam into the stone breakwater on Playa de Mezquitilla, (between Algarrobo and Vélez-Málaga).

The commotion caused in the water startled many nearby beachgoers and wondered what was going on, but this behaviour is not so strange when you consider that a shoal of fish under attack from predators heads for shallow water and in this case rocks to hide amongst.

So fast was this body of fish moving that some of them actually lept out of the water onto the breakwater or onto the sand. Bathers, recovering their witts, started returning them to the water.

Something similar happened back in November just below the Balcón de Europa in Nerja, but it being winter, there were fewer people on the beaches on either side.

Apparently, marine biologists are seeing large shoals of shrimp fry, lachas, sardines and anchovies, which may be related to the increase in water temperatures. The increased temperatures cause an explosion of phytoplankton, which in turn bolsters the numbers of other species; in other words, all along the food chain.

(News: Algarrobo, Vélez-Malaga, Malaga, Andalucia – Photo: Francisco Millán. Axarquía Plus)