U.S. Government Joins Search to Figure Out Why Florida Fish Are Acting Abnormally

Florida Fish and Wildlife have been reporting that fish have been acting abnormally, including twirling and spinning in circles. The concern is so great that NBC News is reporting that the U.S. government is now reviewing the information, and stepping in to see what is causing this bizarre behavior.

NBC News shared the report on Monday, April 1st, including videos of several fish in Florida waters that appear to be unable to swim properly. Reports also say that several endangered species of fish are acting 'erratically'.

Commenters had a lot to say about NBC News' video. @Logan and many others had the same thought, "I wonder if it’s something to do with the eclipse" and @HoneybeeBritMarie added, "Fish at PetSmart were doing this the other day too."  Others had thoughts similar to @Mertit America, "Rivers, streams, aquifers all contaminated by forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and micro plastics. It's okay, corporations are breaking profit records." Whatever the reason, it's a sad thing to see.

Related: National Geographic Reveals Sad News About the State of Wild Panthers in Florida

Ocean Pollution Effects More Than Just the Water

I don't think any of us would be surprised to find out that these fish might be acting strangely due to all of the trash, toxins, plastics, and other things that get dumped into our oceans each day. Conservation.org shared some facts about ocean pollution, and none of them will make you feel good about the state of our oceans and sea life.

This fact is mind blowing: Soon there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Each year, we dump "up to 12 million metric tons. That’s about 26 billion pounds — or the equivalent of more than 100,000 blue whales — every single year. By 2050, ocean plastic will outweigh all of the ocean’s fish."

Here's another one that is hard to process: "There’s so much junk at sea, the debris has formed giant garbage patches. There are five of them around the world, and the largest — the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — includes an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of trash and covers an area twice the size of Texas." It's found off the west coast of North America to Japan. I can't even imagine what that must look like.

We always think that oil spills do the most damage to our oceans, and they do tremendous damage. But they only account for 12 percent of the oil in our oceans. Believe it or not, "two to three times as much oil is carried out to sea via runoff from our roads, rivers and drainpipes."

After learning all of this, it really shouldn't come as a shock to anybody that these fish are acting strangely, not to mention the animals that get caught in fishing hooks, fishing lines, and nets and the destruction to beautiful coral reefs. It's a sad situation that we've created.

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