A bizarre video shared on Facebook by Ali Mohamed Belouizdad shows a stream of thousands of suffocating fish crawling on the sand as it flows down a lane. It can be seen from the video that there is a small amount of ware carrying the fish that, unfortunately, seems to be fighting for their lives.
The exact number of fish in that stream of water flowing down is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the thousands. The stream continues to flow downward and gradually gets closer to the camera crew reporting the mysterious phenomenon.
Dead fish and shellfish lie along the eastern bank of the Oder River on August 15, 2022, near Krajnik Dolny, Poland.
Where Do These Fish Come From?
Newsweek has contacted Belouizdad to investigate what exactly happened, but even he is not sure why there are thousands of fish streaming down that lane. The video has been shared by other people and has since become viral.
Facebook users theorize that perhaps the fish came from a flooded lake and that the water is now headed toward the direction of another lake, river system, or any body of water. As long as the water continues to flow, they will be able to reach their destination and will survive.
On the other hand, some expressed their confusion about how the fish were still alive despite not having enough water to breathe. Some believe that the phenomenon does not involve any lakes at all. One user said that a tanker truck transporting baby fish must have experienced a leak, and there is a chance that the fish could die once all the water dries up.
Furthermore, some Facebook users wondered if there were any birds or other predators present that could swoop down to feast on the stream of fish.
This type of phenomenon is not the first to ever happen, as similar incidents have been recorded worldwide. For example, The New York Times reported the case of anchovies falling from the sky in the streets of San Francisco in June this year.
Local fishermen believed the seabirds feasting on the fish could have dropped them from the sky. It must be noted that the anchovy population in the area at that time had also increased significantly.
How Long Can A Fish Survive Out of Water?
Fish need water to survive like all marine creatures, as they are just as dependent on oxygen as humans, and they get their supply in the water. According to Scuba.com, they have a unique respiratory system that uses gills to inhale water and extract oxygen from it using tiny blood vessels on the surface of the gills before discharging it as waste.
The gills are just like the lungs in humans. So when a fish is out of the water, its gills would arch and collapse as it cannot get oxygen as they usually do. They would suffocate in just a matter of seconds of being separated from the water. But some species live for days without water because they can breathe air or absorb oxygen through their skin.
These species are typically amphibious, while larger fish can store air to keep them out of water. That means the time they could survive out of water depends on their species.
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