Recently, a huge quantity 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 covering the beach.
Having occurred approximately 48 hours before a significant earthquakewas not caused by any unusual prediction of the fish, but 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, about 48 hours later, the region was hit by a strong earthquake, leading some to suggest 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, and that the phenomenon known as upwelling is probably responsible for the unusual mass stranding.
You fish Disoriented people began to swim towards the shore in the early hours of Sunday, off the coast of the municipality of Maasim, in the province of Sarangani, in the extreme south of the island of Mindanao.
Images and videos recorded by residents overnight show large swarms of bright sardines scattered across the beach, thrashing in the waves as they were washed ashore.
The shallow waters turned silver and red due to 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 of sardines each, while one family packed more than half a tonne of the tiny fish, as reported by Thai news website The Nation.
Most dead fish, if preserved correctly, will likely be eaten or sold.
Some locals interpreted the unusual phenomenon as a ‘gift from God’ and a sign of an extraordinarily prosperous new year, while others warned that the mass stranding could be an omen of natural disaster, according to the The Thaiger.
More about the earthquake
Around 5am local time on Tuesday (9/1), a earthquake magnitude 6.7 struck the Celebes Sea, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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 stranding firsthand, said it is unlikely that the two phenomena are related.
There is still a lack of studies on the capacity of animals of predicting earthquakes, although it is possible that, in some cases, they respond to preliminary signals or to light tremors that precede more intense events.
Lagnason Jr. suggests that the most likely cause of the mass stranding was the aforementioned oceanographic phenomenon known as upwelling.
In this phenomenon, nutrients from the seabed rise to shallow coastal waters, triggering plankton blooms.
The sardines, feeding on these plankton, probably followed the source to the shallow waters, becoming ‘trapped’ and increasing the likelihood of stranding.
Similar scenarios have already been observed in several other locations in the Philippines.
Most of the sardines, possibly belonging to one of the species of the Sardinella genus, were juveniles, which could have contributed to the group’s disorientation. Zenaida A.
Dangkalan, a fisheries officer in Sarangani, also pointed out other factors that could have played a role, such as an overabundance of sardines, changes in temperatures or salinity of the sea. oceandistribution of predators and light pollution from human settlements.
Lagnason Jr. points out that the earthquake following the grounding is likely a coincidence, noting that earthquakes of this type are common in the ‘Ring of Fire,’ a region of intense tectonic activity that stretches around most of the Pacific Ocean, including the Philippines .
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