Oceanport residents say a massive amount of dead fish washed up in their waterways within a 24-hour time span.

Heaps of the stinky, dead fish formed a carpet of carcasses among docks and boats off the Shrewsbury River.

Oceanport Creek, Parker's Creek and Blackberry Bay ended up being the final resting place for the dead fish.

New Jersey, as well as others states like Florida, has seen its fair share of fish kills through the years, which typically takes about a few weeks. What make this massive fish die-off a-typical is that it happened within a 24-hour period.

"Normally, we do have this happening on a yearly basis, but not to the extent we had this year," says Mario Criscione, owner of Marina at Oceanport. "So Friday, there was nothing, and Saturday you had this whole event."

The Department of Environmental Protection released a statement saying, "The dead fish are adult Manhaden fish and group in large schools. They are ocean going, but do go into smaller waterways to escape predators. When this happens, they tend to use up all the oxygen and die. The DEP took dissolved oxygen samples."

DEP officials have not officially confirmed the cause was due to lack of oxygen but they say that it appears to be the likely cause.