Tens of thousands of dead fish are washing up on the Texas coast at Quintana Beach County Park in Brazoria County.
Rangers say they died in a "low dissolved oxygen event." The stinky mess began Friday and the rotten fish just kept piling up for much of the weekend.
Most of the fish are menhaden which are considered "forage fish" which are preyed upon for food by larger fish.
Rangers explain the "low dissolved oxygen event" by saying "cooler water is capable of holding much more oxygen than warmer water, and fish that find themselves in warm water can end up in big trouble. When water temperature rises above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes hard for menhaden to receive enough oxygen to survive. Shallow waters warm more quickly than deeper, so if a school of menhaden are trapped in the shallows as the water begins to heat, the fish will start to suffer from hypoxia."
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