Dead Croaker Fish washing up on Ocean City Maryland Beaches.....

 A massive fish kill  has occurred of the species known as "croakers," a small bottom feeding fish often sought by anglers and commercial fisherman.

Local authorities scrambled to dispose of millions of dead croakers that had washed up on the Atlantic Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia beaches.   With the possibility of a possible health hazard, let alone the "stink" factor in decaying dead fish, dump trucks and bulldozers were dispatched to remove the carcasses.

Often fish kills are associated with algae blooms (Algae blooms cause toxic conditions) that release a toxic chemical that kill fish and can be harmful to humans, and coincidentally with the excess rainfall an increase in algae blooms was noted this year.  But this particular fish kill of croaker fish has been attributed to an upwelling of cold water in the Atlantic where the croakers were feeding.    Scientists had stated that the croakers had moved from the warmer Chesapeake Bay and into the Atlantic waters where the cold upwelling shocked the fish.

Noted rumors of an unusual swelling the gills of the croakers have not yet been confirmed.    Noted causes of the cold upwelling are being the cause of the fish kill are being discounted by some marine biologists.   Story developing.