Two million fish dead in Maryland

A worker with U.S. Environmental Services, a private contractor, picks up a dead bird in Beebe, Ark. on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011 as more can be seen on the street behind him. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday more than 1,000 dead black birds fell from the sky in Beebe.

The Toronto Star:

The mysterious animal deaths continue to pile up.

This time, authorities in Maryland are investigating after about 2 million fish washed up in Chesapeake Bay.

It’s just the latest in a string of baffling animal deaths reported around the world. The growing list of casualties includes birds, fish, and crabs coming up dead in Arkansas, England, Sweden, and as far away as New Zealand.

And while theories of pending apocalypse have been bandied about, officials have a simpler explanation for the latest mass die-off in Maryland: cold weather.

“Natural causes appear to be the reason,” the Maryland Department of the Environment said in a news release. “Cold-water stress exacerbated by a large population of the affected species (juvenile spot fish) appears to be the cause of the kill.”

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