Those responsible for the coasts of Brazoria County, in Texas (United States), have confirmed that the death of hundreds of thousands of fish on the beaches of Quintana, which occurred last weekend, was due to a sudden episode of increased water temperature and decreased oxygen concentration in this area of the Texas Gulf, about 110 km south of Houston.
Widespread images of dead fish floating or stranded on the sand between Quintana and Bryan Beach have forced county authorities to speed up efforts to remove dead fish and clean up the shoreline.
Bathers on the coast were surprised this weekend when they observed a sad scene, with thousands of dead fish washed up on the sand by the current. Residents and visitors to the area began sharing images of the species lining the edge of the beach, in what wildlife officials called a "low dissolved oxygen event."
A couple walking along Quintana Beach, near Freeport, witnessed how the fish remained scattered for several kilometers from the coast. Darrell Schoppe, who spread one of the first messages on Facebook, explained on this social network: "I was hoping to take advantage of the low waves to fish, but things did not go as planned, unfortunately."
A good part of the dead fish are of the species known as Gulf menhaden or Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus). The deaths of tens of thousands of fish were "caused by a low dissolved oxygen event," brought on by warm water, which cannot hold as much oxygen as cold water, the Texas Parks team said in a statement.
"When water temperatures rise rapidly, dissolved oxygen drops and fish suffer," park officials said in a Facebook post. "Shallow waters warm faster than deeper ones, so if a community of fish gets trapped in shallow areas while the water starts to warm up, the fish will start to suffer from hypoxia." The lack of oxygen causes the fish to panic and act erratically, which lowers oxygen levels even further, authorities said.
