What is ‘fish kill’ and why it happens

Subject: geography

Section: Physical geography Climatology

Context:

Details:

Among the dead fish covering the shores were mostly menhaden but there were also some sharks, trout, bass, catfish and stingrays.

Fish kill phenomenon:

The incident took place due to a phenomenon called “fish kill”.
- It is the sudden and unexpected death of many fish or other aquatic animals over a short period and mostly within a particular area.
- It occurs mainly due to low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water that causes suffocation of the fish.
A combination of phenomena led to the occurrence of this event:
- Warm water and rising sea surface temperature led to difficulty in breathing
- Group of fish trapped in shallow water leads to more warming of water
- Calm water: Due to calm water, wind does not get mixed with the water, thus leading to scarcity of dissolved oxygen.
- Due to cloudy skies, phytoplankton were unable to carry out the process of photosynthesis, which is another way of producing oxygen in the water.
Texas experiences fish kills every year during summers when the temperatures of the sea surface rise.
With the rising temperature in the oceans, this phenomenon may become more prevalent.