With a drought and heat wave in the Midwest, thousands of dead fish are appearing in the Des Moines River. Experts believe high temperatures, not a zombie apocalypse, are behind the death of shovelnose sturgeons worth millions.
Monday, IBT reported on the growing concerns by scientists of the impact this summer's drought and heat wave has had on fish populations in the Midwest.
Thousands of dead fish, mostly sturgeon, cropped up all along the river in Iowa recently. As the riverbeds dry out due to intense heat and lack of flow, sturgeons are dying in record numbers.
While the drought has affected other states in the Midwest, the heat wave in Iowa has all but decimated the fish species, known for its eggs used in caviar. As the streams dry out from drought conditions, the numbers can possibly get into the millions.
The scores of dead fish are a concern for experts in the region. Mark Flammang, a biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources had this to say:
"It's something I've never seen in my career, and I've been here for more than 17 years. I think what we're mainly dealing with here are the extremely low flows and this unparalleled heat.
"Those fish have been in these rivers for thousands of thousands of years, and they're accustomed to all sorts of weather conditions. But sometimes, you have conditions occur that are outside their realm of tolerance."
Hopefully, the thousands of dead fish are a temporary result from the widespread heat wave and the region gets rain soon to fill the dried-out streams.
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