Recent videos circling on social media have shown an alarming amount of dead sea life washing along the shores of Kualoa Beach in Windward Oahu, particularly eels.

While the videos have sparked concern from residents and locals alike, what caused the fatalities is still a mystery.

"Everything that we do on land affects our oceans," said Anthony Burke, Waikiki Aquarium Lead Coral Biologist. "Let's say you have a slight oil leak in your car and it's causing a little patch in your driveway, you'd think that might not be a big deal, but if that's happening to hundreds of people in the area, the next time the rain falls, all of that oil will be swept out to sea."

Burke said that because the videos primarily show eels, it's safe to assume that the issue is something that affects benthic animals, meaning the bottom area of a body of water.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources became aware of the incident through social media and went out to the beach to investigate. However, no eels were found.

"We walked along the area that we believe that the video was taken, and we saw no dead eels upon walking the beach," said DLNR Oahu District Aquatic Biologist Kimberly Fuller. "Because of that, we believe that the video may have been taken earlier than (Thursday)."

Without organisms to observe, Fuller says that any estimate on what caused the incident would be highly speculative.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: "Currently, there are no indications of a point source discharge or identifiable human activity that would warrant a targeted water quality investigation. Effective monitoring requires a clear understanding of what contaminants to test for. Even if a specific pollutant were suspected, ocean monitoring alone would not identify its origin."

While the on-foot investigation is concluded, the DLNR is continuing to stay on high alert.

"The Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement is conducting an active investigation," said Fuller. "That is going to be more about investigating the timeline of things, and any potential influences that could have caused this to occur, particularly if it were any illegal activity."