Nothing fishy about it: Cold temperatures cause fish kill

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Alabama conservation officials say recent cold temperatures are the likely culprit behind a large fish kill that’s left some beaches and docks a smelly scene.

AL.com reports that thousands of fish have gone belly-up on the surface of Little Lagoon in Gulf Shores, or washed ashore this week. The fish are mostly white mullet.

A marine biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Kevin Anson, says the fish can’t tolerate the cold, and fish kills in southern Alabama are not a new phenomenon. He says the dead fish came in two separate waves.

Anson said it’s likely that this fish kill was an isolated event and not coast-wide.

Unusually hot summer weather can also spell death for fish, but that’s due to an ensuing lack of oxygen.

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Information from: The Birmingham News, http://www.al.com/birminghamnews