Recently, a huge mass of sardines, possibly numbering in the millions, stranded near an island in the Philippines, turning the coast into a silvery glow with small, lifeless fish littering the beach.
Occurred approximately 48 hours before a significant event earthquakewas not caused by an unusual prediction from the fish, but was attributed to a phenomenon known as “Resurgence'.
Millions of sardines washed up on the beaches around Maasim on the island of Mindanao Image: Cirilo Aquadera Lagnason Jr.
Speculation arose when a strong earthquake struck the region about 48 hours later, leading some to believe that the fish had sensed the impending natural disaster and sought shallow waters as a means of escape.
However, local experts clarify that the two events are independent of each other and that the phenomenon known as upwelling is likely responsible for the unusual mass stranding.
You Fish Disoriented people began swimming toward shore in the early hours of Sunday off the coast of Maasim township in Sarangani province, in the far south of Mindanao island.
Images and videos taken by residents overnight show large schools of bright sardines scattered across the beach, lapping in the waves as they wash up on the beach.
The shallow water turned silver and red from dead fish Image: Madz Ishmael Abdulbali
At sunrise, residents gathered to collect the dead fish. On one beach, more than 100 people collected between 20 and 30 kg Sardines As the Thai news site The Nation reported, each family caught more than half a ton of the tiny fish.
Most dead fish, if properly preserved, are likely to be eaten or sold.
Some locals interpreted the unusual phenomenon as a “gift from God” and a sign of an exceptionally successful New Year, while others warned that the mass stranding could be an omen of a natural disaster, according to The Thaiger.
More about the earthquake
Around 5 a.m. local time on Tuesday (September 1st), a earthquake According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 6.7 occurred in the Celebes Sea.
The epicenter occurred about 100 kilometers off the coast of Maasim, fueling speculation on social media about a possible connection between the two events.
However, Cirilo Aquadera Lagnason Jr., a researcher at the Sarangani Bay Protected Areas Management Office (PAMO) who witnessed the sardine strandings firsthand, said it was unlikely that the two phenomena were related.
Studies on performance are still missing Animals Predict earthquakes, although in some cases it is possible that they respond to preliminary signals or to small tremors that precede more intense events.
Lagnason Jr. suspects that the most likely cause of the mass stranding was the aforementioned oceanographic phenomenon known as upwelling.
In this phenomenon, nutrients from the seafloor reach shallow coastal waters and trigger plankton blooms there.
The sardines that fed on this plankton likely followed the source into the shallows, where they were “caught” and the likelihood of stranding increased.
Similar scenarios have already been observed in several other locations in the region Philippines.
Most of the sardines, which may have belonged to a species of the genus Sardinella, were juveniles, which may have contributed to the group's disorientation. Zenaida A.
Dangkalan, a fisheries official in Sarangani, also pointed to other factors that could have played a role, such as an oversupply of sardines, temperature fluctuations or sea salinity. oceanPredation prevalence and light pollution from human settlements.
Lagnason Jr. points out that the postlanding earthquake is likely a coincidence, noting that earthquakes of this type are common in the “Ring of Fire,” a region of intense tectonic activity that extends throughout most of the Pacific Ocean, including the Philippines.