Why menhadens are washing ashore – NBC Chicago

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the Texas Gulf coast over the weekend, blanketing the shorelines of several beaches with marine carcasses for miles.

Most of the dead fish were menhaden, a small fish often used for bait, and died due to “a low dissolved oxygen event,” according to a Facebook post from the Quintana Beach County Park.

Fish kills like this are common in the summer as water temperatures rise, Texas Parks and Wildlife said. Many cases of low dissolved oxygen are natural occurrences.

A sufficient level of dissolved oxygen in water is necessary to sustain aquatic life. Warm ocean water holds less oxygen than cold water and can contribute to oxygen levels dropping too low, impacting water quality and starving fish of a life necessity. Recent samples taken from the beach showed almost no dissolved oxygen, officials said.

“As we see increased water temperatures, certainly this could lead to more of these events occurring especially in…