Beach walk takes horrifying turn after woman spots something scattered in the sand

A morning stroll along a portion of the Jersey Shore took an alarming turn when a woman discovered nearly 30 dead sharks scattered across a popular beach .

The sharks, which have been identified as juvenile dogfish, were recently found in Sea Isle City , New Jersey, roughly 20 miles north of Cape May.

The discovery of so many sharks at once is a rare occurrence, shark ecologist Mike Heithaus told Fox News Digital.

TEXAS TEEN BITTEN BY BARRACUDA IN POPULAR VACATION SPOT AFTER BRACELET GLINTS IN WATER "This is definitely something that's pretty rare, to see that many sharks washed up on the beach," said Heithaus, dean of Florida International University's College of Arts, Sciences & Education.

The beachgoer, Michelle Greenling, told CBS Philadelphia she found 29 dead sharks between 29th and 39th streets along the shore.

"The first couple weren't too surprising, but when I saw three and four and five, I knew something was up ," Greenling said.

The beachgoer described the sight as "definitely concerning." BOY STUMBLES ON STRANGE BEACH OBJECT IDENTIFIED AS RARE 1.8M-YEAR-OLD FOSSIL "I was concerned about the water.

I was concerned about the sharks," she said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Greenling for further comment.

Heithaus told Fox News Digital that dogfish gather in large schools , meaning a group could have been affected by the same event.

While a toxin might initially appear to be one possible explanation, he said he would expect other marine species to have been affected as well.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER "The fact that there aren't lots of other different kinds of animals washing up at the same time suggests it's not some kind of pollution or toxin in the environment," said Heithaus, who was not involved in the discovery or analysis.

"If I had to make a guess, probably something happened to them, and they were caught, but [they] weren't what people were looking for, and so they got discarded." Heithaus said scientists are increasingly using monitoring buoys and other systems as coastal oceans change, allowing researchers to track conditions and identify potential threats.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS "We've learned enough that we can monitor water quality and figure out what's going on ahead of these events happening so we can make interventions when we might have to," he said.