March 8th, 2011
01:35 PM ET

Millions of dead anchovies float to surface in Redondo Beach

Enough anchovies to top much of the world’s pizza and Caesar salads have floated lifelessly to the surface in Redondo Beach, California's King Harbor, according to a local newspaper.

Officials say millions of the pungent, oily fish are covering the sea bottom in the harbor. They began rising to the surface Tuesday morning, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, outside Los Angeles, reported.

“We need to get rid of them,” Sgt. Phil Keenan of the Redondo Beach Police Department told the paper. “This is going to create a terrible pollution and public health issue if we don't.”

Fire, police and public works officials have yet to cite a definite cause, but Keenan said the fish appear to have died from lack of oxygen.

There were no red tides (oxygen-depleting algae blooms) or other obvious phenomena that could have caused the mass deaths, the paper reported.

“Yesterday, everything looked absolutely normal,” Walter Waite, who lives at the harbor, told the newspaper. “This morning when I got up, there were millions and millions of them floating everywhere.”

The temperature in Southern California is expected to climb into the 70s Tuesday, exacerbating the urgency of removing the scads of 6-inch fish scattered throughout the harbor.

Read CNN's full coverage of the dead anchovies in a California harbor
Post by:
Filed under: Animals • California • Environment • Nature • U.S.
soundoff (493 Responses)
  1. RightTurnClyde

    They flew in to something ... like the birds did in Arkansas .. all at the same time ... you know how fish are.. the government will confirm it for us. .. Just like Maryland and Louisiana and Maine and Europe . (oh, it's normal ..or ..even worse ... it's global warming ). [it's weapons testing []

    March 8, 2011 at 2:44 pm | Report abuse |
  2. james

    Pizzas everywhere are in mourning today.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:47 pm | Report abuse |
    • Mary

      Paulie, sleeps with the FISHES

      March 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Report abuse |
  3. douglas

    It must be Bush's fault because he didn't sign the Kyoto treaty.

    Actually that is a real comment from a woman my wife met in Houston, complaining about why a hurricane was happening.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Edwin

    Apparently, CNN is not up on the data. According to the link in their article, the dead fish are actually sardines, not anchovies. Authorities originally thought they were anchovies but have since identified them as sardines.

    Sadly, CNN does not appear to monitor its own stories much...

    March 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Report abuse |
    • Mary

      CNN, should be calling u for a position in their CO , good job , thanks

      March 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
    • American Idiot

      HEY! What kind of anti-osteichthite comment is that! They all look alike INDEED!

      March 8, 2011 at 3:21 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Charles

    Cue the crazies

    March 8, 2011 at 2:50 pm | Report abuse |
    • Denizen Kate

      I don't think they need a cue. They certainly don't need a clue.

      March 8, 2011 at 3:52 pm | Report abuse |
  6. douglas

    They're just hibernating.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:53 pm | Report abuse |
    • Teb

      Or maybe they're just pining for the fjords?

      March 8, 2011 at 4:28 pm | Report abuse |
  7. douglas

    Rosie O'Donnel was scuba diving nearby.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:54 pm | Report abuse |
  8. american boy

    Sorry for the fish. RIP??? lol how funny!!!!

    March 8, 2011 at 2:54 pm | Report abuse |
  9. ANITA

    Ok you trolls. You want to quote "scripture" Here's a real one. Rev 18:4....he will bring to ruin those ruining the earth."

    March 8, 2011 at 2:56 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Kim Moore

    As an activist/advocate for the victims/survivors of the Gulf Oil Corexit holocaust I am appalled at the continual lies told about oxygen depletion being the cause and people believing it without demanding independent lab analysis. Americans are to lazy and petrified to seek the truth. Enjoy your omega 3 supplements because that is most likely where these fish will end up. Our world is being poisoned and people have there heads where the sun doesn't shine. We are all in serious trouble because of the use of corexit in the untied states. Search on youtube... Linda Nelson died and witness what is really happening in the Gulf due to the corexit and oil spill.... WAKE UP PEOPLE !

    March 8, 2011 at 2:57 pm | Report abuse |
  11. douglas

    They were killed by the chemical byproduct produced by the secret bombs used in the World Trade Center attack. The conspirators had to get rid of it somewhere and some time, and figured after 9 yrs passing it was now safe enough to dump it. And, SoCal was the best place.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:58 pm | Report abuse |
  12. Abbynormal

    Am I a bad person if i take a tiny bit of pleasure at the thought of all those boat owners scrubbing dead-anchovie muck off their boats?

    Poor, sad fish.

    March 8, 2011 at 2:59 pm | Report abuse |
  13. iDre

    Aren't there significant frozen methane deposits that lie underwater near California's coast; Redondo Beach being 1 of them?

    March 8, 2011 at 2:59 pm | Report abuse |
  14. steelerguin

    Lotta pizza posts. Quite frankly, I'm more worried about my caesar salad.

    March 8, 2011 at 3:00 pm | Report abuse |
  15. kaci

    They should check for poison. I don't trust that someone wouldn't put something in the water. It would be so easy to poison the waterways. Lot's of evil people abroad today.

    March 8, 2011 at 3:02 pm | Report abuse |
    • Denizen Kate

      A poison that would only target this particular species of fish? Really? Seen any good SciFi movies lately?

      March 8, 2011 at 3:57 pm | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
« Back to main