Just a brutal scene.
According to USA Today, around 21,000 fish have died at a University of California Davis’ aquatic research center this past week.
A number of green and white sturgeon and endangered Chinook salmon were among those of the dead fish.
The University of California Davis shared the probable cause of death in a statement:
“The loss appears to be due to chlorine exposure, to which fish are especially sensitive.”
The fish were used to research “bioenergetics and environmental stressors” on different species, and an investigation has been launched to figure out this failure.
The statement continued:
“We share the grief of the faculty, staff and students who worked to care for, study and conserve these animals. We commit to understanding what happened and making changes to the facility so that we can ensure that this does not happen again.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture states that chlorine is a decontaminant that is typically found in tap water, which is dangerous to fish species if a dechlorinator is not used.
The school believes that their was a failure to use an external decontamination system, causing chlorine to back up in the fish tanks.
School spokesperson Andy Fell told the outlet:
“These were currently, basically, all the fish they maintained in those outdoor tanks so this was a total loss for the center. It was really a devastating thing to happen.”
None of the other aquatic research facilities at the university were affected, but are keeping an eye out on the facilities that could potentially have the same chlorine exposure.
The facility the fish died at was at , where research was done to protect California’s aquatic resources.
Only 100 fish survived.
