(WSVN) - Fish apparently continue to spin and die in the Florida Keys. Frustrated scientists have yet to discover why this is happening, and now they fear the condition is spreading. 7’s Heather Walker investigates.
For people who love the water, this is a heartbreaking sight to see: a critically endangered sawfish swimming in circles.
A few days later, it washed up on shore, dead.
Tonya Wiley: “This is the singular most devastating event that’s happened to them, this mass mortality that we’re seeing down there.”
Tonya Wiley is the president of the U.S. Sawfish Recovery Team.
She says this sawfish was found in the Tampa Bay area last month.
It’s the farthest north she’s seen this strange behavior, and believes the fish swam up from the Keys.
Tonya Wiley: “We’re really concerned about what this is going to mean for this population of this endangered species.”
Sawfish have been listed as endangered since 2003. In the last six months, 55 have died.
If this decline continues, it could wipe them out.
But it’s not just sawfish that are in trouble. Fifty fish species have been seen spinning like this in the Keys, and while a lot of fish are getting sick, only the sawfish are dying.
Tonya Wiley: “It is a mystery.”
A mystery frustrating the scientists trying to solve it.
The state of Florida just approved $2 million to fund research. That’s in addition to the money being spent by the federal government, private research facilities and universities.
Including Florida Gulf Coast University. 7News was there as they made yet another dive in search of the cause.
Adam Catasus, research coordinator, FGCU: “We want to look at all the environmental structures can be, we want to make sure we are measuring everything that we possibly can while we are here.”
On this day, university scientists are diving in the middle Keys, off the southern end of Long Key, collecting water, sea grass and seaweed samples.
Heather Walker: “The answer to what’s causing the fish to spin could be in here.”
Adam Catasus: “Potentially, yeah.”
7News got an exclusive look inside the lab, where the samples then go for testing.
The FGCU scientists said that once again, their samples showed high levels of a microscopic algae called Gambierdiscus. It is a naturally occurring toxin that is normally harmless but can be dangerous at high levels.
Adam Catasus: “If fish swim through it, or if they eat some of it, or they are exposed to it, they’ll have a response and impact, for example, spinning fish.”
Several spinning sawfish have been captured in an attempt to save them, but all have died.
Heather Walker: “Can this mystery be solved?”
Tonya Wiley: “I think it can. It’s going to take time.”
And all of these scientists know they are in a race against time before it’s too late.
Heather Walker, 7News.
Swimming where there are dead fish is not recommended.
Anyone who would like to make a donation to save the sawfish can do so here.
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