The Arkansas River, near the town of Ozark, Arkansas, is a wasteland. Normally teeming with life, the river is dead. Nothing but death fills the water, as an estimated 100,000 drum fish have died as part of a massive fish kill that’s littering the banks and water of the Arkansas River with more dead fish than you can shake a stick at. The die-off of the fish is believed to be one of the largest fish kills in Arkansas history.
“The fish kill only affected one species of fish,” said Arkansas Game and Fish Commission official Keith Stephens. “If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish.”
The culprit is believed to be some sort of disease outbreak amongst the drum fish, rather than pollution or a predator. While disease outbreaks and fish kills happen every year, rarely are they the scope or scale of this side of fish catastrophe. The swath of dead fish covers a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River. Further testing will be needed to determine the exact cause of fish death.
Tags: unusual accidents, fish kills, massive fish kill, Arkansas, Arkansas River, Ozark, Keith Stephens, drum fish, 100000 dead fish found in Arkansas River, massive drum fish kill, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, unusual events, unusual disease outbreaks, 20-mile stretch of Arkansas River covered in dead fish, natural disasters