Villagers were in panic after they woke up to find the sea had turned blood red overnight.
Red waves rushed onto the beach, turning the coastline into a terrifying scene in Shenzhen,in China's Guangdong province.
Some residents even believed a swimmer had been killed by a shark as the sea turned such a deep shade of crimson.
The scene will undoubtedly unsettle some as biblical texts forewarn a blood red sea is one of the ten plagues of Egypt marking the End of The World.
The bizarre scene in this case however isn't a prelude of judgement day but is in fact caused by algae blooms, which change colour to a deep red or dark brown when they reproduce in one area in large numbers.
Local environment official Kang Ts'ai said: "Although it is harmless, we have nevertheless slapped a ban on any swimming or watersports in the area until the algae is swept back out to sea."
The algal blooms have been observed for centuries starting with a written record from British Columbia in Canada in 1793, but although a natural occurrence they can also be increased by man-made activities including pollution in coastal areas, as well as by rising sea temperatures.
The algal blooms have been observed for centuries starting with a written record from British Columbia in Canada in 1793, but although a natural occurrence they can also be increased by man-made activities including pollution in coastal areas, as well as by rising sea temperatures.
As well as the ban on swimming, fishing activities were also stopped. Shenzhen’s Monitoring Centre for Marine Environment and Resources experts said that they expected the algae to disappear once the water temperature had once again lowered. culled
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