Long Islanders thought winter had arrived early when they walked near the Shinnecock Canal in Hampton Bays, New York, on Monday.
The
water looked like it was covered in a thick sheet of ice, but upon
closer examination, residents could see it was actually thousands of
silver bunker fish wiggling on top of each other, struggling to survive.
Dozens of people posted pictures and videos of the unusual sight on Facebook.
“Strange phenomenon. Cause of man or nature?” local resident Gustavo Zuluaga Buritica asked.
“Wow never seen anything like it!” Long Islander Eric Reilly commented.
As videos of the rare sight go viral, people are now looking for answers.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation told CBS News on Tuesday that they are monitoring the incident.
“No
additional fish kills have been reported overnight or today,” said
Erica Ringewald, the department’s media relations director. “Some dead
bunker are floating in the Shinnecock Bay but most are believed to have
sunk to the bottom.”
The town of Southampton has been cleaning up
the dead fish on the beaches and DEC Marine Resources is arranging for
aerial overflights to track the movement of the dead fish, Ringewald
explained.
“Southampton worked with the County Department of
Public Works to open and close the canal to keep the oxygen levels up
while allowing some fish to escape,” she said.
While state environmental officials didn’t identify a cause for the massive die-off, local experts have an idea.
“There
was a big school of blue fish in the bay earlier on Sunday,” Stony
Brook Southampton Marine Science Center manager Chris Paparo told CBS New York.
“Blue fish eat bunker and they chase the bunker into the canal like
this and the locks are closed, fish can’t escape, and when they get
pushed in they deplete the oxygen.” CBS
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