Dead fish inquiry

[oldsalt]

I don't know how to bring in a quote from another forum, but deepdiver reported a bunch of dead fish on a recent dive in Hood Canal. He speculated that they were at the end of their life cycle. I don't know of any sculpin type fish which have a calendar driven life cycle such as our anadromous fish do. Since this is Hood canal, is it more likely to be the result of another oxygen dead zone?
-Curt

[lavachickie]

The ORCA buoys are reporting new-hypoxic conditions at depth; stress level conditions start around 40.

http://orca.ocean.washington.edu/index.shtml

Could be. Perhaps someone with more smarts than me can expand upon that.

[whatevah]

Curt the timing is right for a die-off of Plainfin Midshipmen. In the late spring and early summer these fish come to shallow waters to nest - the males stay to guard the eggs and the young, and become quite emaciated in the process. Large numbers of them die and wash up on the shore. Ugly fish, neat life history

[Waynne Fowler]

Curt the timing is right for a die-off of Plainfin Midshipmen. In the late spring and early summer these fish come to shallow waters to nest - the males stay to guard the eggs and the young, and become quite emaciated in the process. Large numbers of them die and wash up on the shore. Ugly fish, neat life history

That's quite interesting... I neve knew that... thanks for throwin' that out there.

[oldsalt]

Whatevah, you're right. I checked deep diver's picture on the other forum and it was a plainfin midshipman. I remember studying these little fish in ichthyology (30+ years ago) and all I remember is they made noise and had some bioluminescence. This info about the life cycle is appreciated, probably not appreciated as much by the fish though.
Thanks.
-Curt

[Biodiversity_Guy]

Yep, I have been seeing a few dead plainfin midshipmen at Sund Rock these past couple of weeks.