The town of Santa Rosa woke up to an unwelcome sight Monday morning when thousands of dead fish had washed up from a small lake in the town’s center.
Per a press release from the Santa Rosa Municipality, located in the central province of La Pampa, the fish turned up from the Don Tomás Lagoon due to a combination of environmental factors. The dead fish were mostly sea silverside and carp species.
“According to the information relayed (Monday) morning, high temperatures, the low level of water, and the lack of oxygenation in the lagoon came together to produce a significant death toll of silverside and carp,” a message on the municipal website read.
The local government had to send a claw tractor to clean up the fish as soon as possible Monday.
Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper reported that the mess of fish took up hundreds of meters of coastline. It added that the same phenomenon occurred a month ago at the Don Tomás Lagoon when 5,000 kilograms worth of dead fish washed up to the shores.
