Thousands of dead fish washed up along the Gulf Coast over the weekend, prompting Texas officials to race to respond.
Clean-up activities have been ongoing at Quintana Beach in Brazoria Province since the event began on Friday, when the temperature hit 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to a statement from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Kills and Spells team shared in a Facebook post from Quintana Beach County Park, investigators discovered that the fish died as a consequence of "low dissolved oxygen."
Warming Gulf Coast waters caused by climate change may have contributed to the fish deaths, according to Katie St. Clair, director of the Marine Life Facility at Texas A&M University in Galveston, as reported by Axios.
"As water temperatures rise, this could certainly lead to more of these events occurring, particularly in our shallow, inshore, or coastal environments," St Clair stated on Sunday.
According to the New York Times, as was reported today by Sky News, mounds of dead fish were discovered carpeting the edge of the beach during what wildlife officials termed as a "low dissolved oxygen event."
According to Brian Frazier, head of the Brazoria County Parks Department, it was a "perfect storm" of poor weather.
Warm water caused the death of fish due to lack of oxygen
The official noted that warm water has significantly less oxygen than cold water, and that gloomy skies in the region have hampered how oxygen is typically pumped into ocean water, as they inhibit microorganisms' ability to produce oxygen through photosynthesis.
He noted that the death of these fish "is not a rare occurrence" in the area, and that it begins as the water temperature rises during the summer.
"It's a little worrying to see a wave of dead fish wash ashore," he said, adding that local water conditions will improve because ocean waves pump oxygen back into the water, and fish will swim away from low-oxygen locations.
