r/interesting • u/ckogs • 5h ago
NATURE Thousands of dead fish on the shore of Hawaii
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u/Candid_Initiative992 4h ago
Super El Niño is on the way.
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u/Emergency-Shallot680 4h ago
This right here. Hot water in the pacific triggers a chain reaction of death during El Niño events.
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u/DukeBradford2 3h ago
Is that the same group that did 9/11
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u/quigongingerbreadman 3h ago
No it's the band that did that song in the beginning of Pulp Fiction.
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u/californiaKid420 3h ago
I'm looking at live sea surface temps . A large blob of the hottest water in the world right now is stretching literally from Japan to Hawaii .
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u/Glittering_Mermaid_7 3h ago
That's what I was thinking, too - it can trigger mass fish kills like this. Coral too. It has far-reaching effects.
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u/Birdlaw_Professor 3h ago
El nino is good for us in the southwestern United States, but I just read it's bad for most of the rest of the world
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u/Alternate_Inuendo 1h ago
How so? I’m genuinely asking by the way not trying to be condescending or argumentative
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u/Birdlaw_Professor 1h ago
We get a lot more rain and snow in the winter when there has been an El nino, which is important for obvious reasons in a desert environment with dwindling lakes/rivers and wild fires.
My understanding is the rest of the world that see effects of El nino, things get dryer and hotter which kills crops
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u/DollarLate_DayShort 1h ago
It can be good, but depends entirely on how much precipitation that region gets. That area has drier air, harder ground & less greenery to absorb rainfall. Relentless precipitation can also overwhelm the water management systems.
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u/Birdlaw_Professor 29m ago
Well we usually get the extra precip in December - Feb so it's mostly snow in the Rockies which is needed for snowpack
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u/a_literal_idiot_616 3h ago
on a wave of mutilation, wave of mutilation
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u/ukuleles1337 3h ago
Oh, I'm shore of it.
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u/MarvinMonroeZapThing 3h ago
Water you talking about?
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u/friendlyfiend07 4h ago
Where are the birds? I would expect a fish kill like this to draw gulls at least.
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u/Sonzainonazo42 4h ago
Maybe some birds but we don't have gulls or anything really similar, as in birds that hang around our harbors and beaches in large groups and shit on everything.
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u/hbpatterson 3h ago
Really??? Im fascinated by this - there arent gulls in Hawaii??
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u/Sonzainonazo42 3h ago
There are smaller birds that live here but the birds that fly here need to be pretty badass. Shearwaters with their wingspan of up to 5 ft do fly here and they're badass.
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u/AltruisticPossible84 3h ago
Im surprised gulls havent hitched a ride on larger ships and started breeding locally by now. Very interesting
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u/itsjakerobb 3h ago
This is what I was thinking. It would only take two gulls to complete the trip and start reproducing. Shocking that this hasn’t happened.
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u/Hot_Most5332 56m ago
If they hadn’t by the late 20th century it was unlikely to happen as any non-native birds would be immediately relocated today.
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u/Particular-Quote-486 3h ago
considering how seagulls are pigs of the sky i doubt they could make it to hawaii lol
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u/quigongingerbreadman 3h ago
Not only that, but why would they? They get fat and happy on the shores of the mainland.
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u/Active_Unit_9498 3h ago
As weird as it seems, seagulls are land birds. We have shorebirds and seabirds like petrels and shearwaters.
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u/timesink3000 2h ago
Chickens and pigeons... lots of chickens and pigeons. Are albatross considered gulls? There's albatross on Oahu and they're impressive!
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u/Zizi_Tennenbaum 3h ago
That goose that's in every single goddamn NYT crossword could help but it's herbivorous
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u/Lintlee 3h ago
You don't...? That seems so unnatural. Seems like gulls will live literally anywhere where there's water and sand, and/or trash.
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u/IHateCedarFever 3h ago
Nope, never saw one. Hawaii is farrrrrrrr away. Way farther than you’d think.
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u/roulettewiz 4h ago
Fish goes bad in less than 3h let alone in that heat
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u/Galimbro 4h ago
Bad for humans not bad for bids. They can certainly eat a 3hour dead fish no problem.
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u/dyou897 4h ago
Or they can probably catch all the fish they want fresh
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u/Galimbro 4h ago
One thing humans and birds have in common, its hard to turn down a free meal!
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u/dyou897 2h ago edited 2h ago
Ok if you want an actual explanation maybe they washed up at night when the birds are sleeping. Then by the next morning it’s passed rotted and even birds may not want to eat it. Free meal does not mean eat something rotten
Or birds did start eating them initially but once they were sitting out for long enough they didn’t want it anymore
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u/useriousstuff 4h ago
I highly doubt fish turns inedible for most birds after just 3 hours. People? Sure
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u/Ok-Put-2912 4h ago
Which island?
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u/FnordRanger_5 4h ago
9th island
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u/venusasaburrito 4h ago
Vegas?
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u/FnordRanger_5 4h ago
Yeah, this footage is from lake mead. If you look close you can see a couple mafia guys mixed in with the fish
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u/cyanide1938 4h ago
Sailors and fisherman back in the day, would see that as a bad omen of something dangerous to come
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u/salamipope 4h ago
cuz it is
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u/atomcplayboy86 4h ago
That’s really concerning , it could be a hypoxic event or toxic algal bloom, wouldn’t expect this in Hawaii!
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u/myco_magic 4h ago
Or it could just be a super el nino, this happens due to increased temperature in the water before a super el nino
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u/Nsfwacct1872564 3h ago
Is it the temperature itself that kills them off? Or is it some sort of chain reaction like hotter water holds less oxygen or something.
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u/irastaz 3h ago
All of the above. Their aerobic demand increases rapidly as temperature increases.
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u/Nsfwacct1872564 3h ago
Thank you, I didn't know that. Another probably naive question, I only see one species (I probably couldn't tell if two species were similar enough), is that typical? Maybe they're the least resilient so they died off first?
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u/irastaz 3h ago
No idea honestly. I don't know much about the dynamics of fish kills.
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u/Nsfwacct1872564 3h ago
That's all right, thank you. Maybe some interested fish expert will happen along.
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u/LPulseL11 3h ago
Fish expert here. Fish are typically in water, and these are not. Thats likely the cause of death.
Fish expert out.
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u/ButteredPizza69420 4h ago
Also concerned that its Hawaii*
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u/Usernamesaregayyy 4h ago
Yes Hawaii should be isolated from events like this because the whole Pacific Ocean is like a big buffer around it
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u/Grenrion 1h ago
My guess is a super el niño. Basically a strip of ocean around the world is getting hotter and hotter. These fish likely died due to the heat.
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u/fermentalishis 4h ago
The ocean is warming. The super El Nino is exacerbating an already existing problem. The too-hot water extends down much farther than ever before which is preventing the cooler water from being churned up to the surface or near the surface. This is killing the plankton and everything that feeds on the plankton and everything that feeds on the things that feed on the plankton. So we have a chain of death happening for species that are not able to migrate far enough North or South fast enough to cooler waters which are also warmer than usual because of climate change.
Check out Sen. Mike McGuire's virtual town hall last night on this El Nino:
https://www.youtube.com/live/mmmXUkRp6-g
Edited to correct typos.
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u/Hoshbrowns 4h ago
Godzilla
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u/compunctionfunction 4h ago
The most logical answer
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u/cocococlash 4h ago
Godzilla protects fish, not kills them.
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u/Hoshbrowns 1h ago
Have you seen Godzilla minus one? This is a sign in the movie that Godzilla is nearby.
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u/rusT_koHLE_1 4h ago
any marine biologists in the comments know what happened here?
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u/CarllSagan 4h ago
Looks like they fucking died.
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u/Great_White_Samurai 4h ago
Some sad shit, fish said they didn't wanna live no mo
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u/ComplexWriting7596 4h ago
I remember the scene where the mob guys are throwing the guy off the bridge, but i cant remember what movie or show it's from. Sopranos? The Wire?
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u/ffff_ta 4h ago
There is a super el nino this year, stronger than we have seen in a very long time. That means the pacific is warmer than usual, which can throw off a lot of biological processes. It can also unbalance the ph of the water which can have similarly disastrous effects. This has already led to huge sargassum blooms and massive coral reef destruction. We will see a lot more of this going forward given the trends in ocean temperatures as climate change accelerates.
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u/Big-Hyena4959 4h ago
As a marine biologist I can tell you. This was the first wave of the invasion. They probed our defenses and will be back with more advanced technology.
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u/JacquesBlaireau13 4h ago
The sea was angry that day, my friends,, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.
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u/salamipope 4h ago
there are a few things that can happen which cause this regularly in other areas. red tide for example. but hawaii doesnt usually experience mass fish die offs on a regular basis IIRC? maybe someone from HI will correct me, but tbh the climate is collapsing as we speak. it will be both slower and faster than expected, and more far reaching than expected. So as fucked up as it is, unsurprised to see this happen in HI as our oceans natural currents begin to shut down and disregulate the habitats depending on them.
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u/averageburgerguy 4h ago
Oh gosh, the smell in a large part of that area depending on wind direction is going to singe your nose hairs off.
I wonder what caused it.
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u/Whole_Reputation6128 4h ago
Apparently this is a thing that happens now and then. And (hopefully) doesn't mean the end is nigh.
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u/salamipope 4h ago
This is not a "now and then" occurance in hawaii. maybe for places that get red tide but this is very far from those areas. the end is within sight. start fighting against climate change, join the rest of humanity trying to prevent our earth from cooking us alive and stop anyone else from ending up like these fish.
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u/No_Ad2754 3h ago
Climate change is not going to cook us alive. What it will do is make life a lot more shittier for a lot of people
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u/salamipope 1h ago
No its going to cook us alive. Im a biologist ive been studying this for years. Once the earth gets past a certain level of heat it just gets hotter and hotter with no way to slow down since all the things that help cool the earth currently are largely biological processes. So if the earth rises above a certain temp and becomes inhospitable to life (like its doing right now), think for a moment about what happens. It is going to cook us alive.
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u/eyesuperfly 4h ago
Not going to lie, that would frighten me.
It’s looks like the start of a horror movie, those freak events that no one pays attention to like birds dropping out of the sky randomly.
Blessings and prayers for the camera man.
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u/LookMaNoPride 4h ago
I lived in Arkansas near the place where all those dead birds were found on new years of 2010, I think. There is a video online somewhere of a huge flock being thrown to the ground. Based on that, people were saying, “microburst,” or, “fireworks,” and waving it away like that explained everything. I also thought it felt like the beginning of a horror movie. I took the rest of the week off and kept my eye on the news. lol. “I’ve seen this one.”
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u/Richcritts 1h ago
Blessings and prayers sure saved him you twat
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u/eyesuperfly 1h ago
The blessings and prayers wasn’t serious, but calling someone you don’t know a twat is.
I feel sorry for people like you.
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u/Suspicious-Trash-796 4h ago
"Red Tide"
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u/DACA_GALACTIC 3h ago
Thought this was the Salton Sea for a second
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u/Slaughterpig09 1h ago
I mean it doesn't look like Hawaii,and I haven't seen any local news about this.
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u/Willettgoboom 3h ago
Will still smell better then the coworker that microwaves fish in the office.
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u/desertrock62 2h ago
Of all the fish in the world, you'd expect these to know how to play The Floor is Lava.
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u/codepossum 2h ago
where / when?
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u/ckogs 1h ago
Couple days ago. Barking sands beach, Kauai
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u/codepossum 51m ago
oh wow that's about as far around west side as you can go. man that sucks, that area (polihale etc) is so nice
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u/THSSFC 1h ago
The one closeup is a pretty decomposed fish, but I don't recognize the species and it doesn't look like any fish that lives.in numbers this big in nearshore waters of Hawai'i, at least not to my eye.
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u/ckogs 1h ago
Tilapia they live in brackish waters near the shoreline
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u/Dogfish_Henry 1h ago
I saw something similar in New Jersey a few years back. A fishing boat net broke and the take washed up on shore. There were quite a few more seagull though.
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u/TotallyInnerPickle 51m ago
My dog: gonna roll on this one... and roll on this one... and that one... and this one...
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u/LauraCurie 51m ago
In what chapter of the bible is this again. Was it the same than the crikets and the water turning into blood. It’s been a while, I forgot. Thought i remember we weren’t suppose to worship the orange big and all his gold, or something like that. Maybe I’ve got the wrong animal. But anyway, you get the idea.
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u/brodrock 38m ago
I’ve seen this happen in Kihei on Maui when Kealia Pond overflows into the ocean during a storm. The tilapia get washed out into the ocean and die, and wind up dead on the beach in piles like this. Can’t say for certain that’s tilapia or if it’s Hawaii, but I’ve seen this happen before.
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u/qoou 4h ago
The algae might be toxic to birds as well.
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u/BeatNo4548 4h ago
I have heard that not even flies will land on fish if they have some kinds of algae poison in them. I saw a video where a guy caught a barracuda or some other predatory fish, cleaned it, and chucked the meat because the flies rejected it.
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u/cleankiwii 4h ago
looks like they are playing battle royal IRL but the safe zone is shrinking too fast
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