A Large Number of Species Died at the Seaside of Dalian. Experts from CBCGDF Suggested that Scientific Analysis Should be Carried out Immediately and Comprehensively
2020/2/28 16:24:00 本站

Recently, there has been an unusual phenomenon of biological death along the coastline from the riverside of Wafangdian in the north to the lacunfang village in Jinpu's new area. On February 17, a large number of dead Barracuda were found in Yulong Bay of Jinzhou, most of them were frozen in shallow water. Then, a large number of sandworms were found on the beach. Yesterday, another species, mud shrimp, was found dead on the beach in large numbers. According to the official media of Dalian, the reason for the massive death of organisms is likely to be that from February 14 to 17, Dalian suddenly suffered a temperature drop, the Barracuda had no time to move to the deep sea, and the water in this sea area is relatively shallow, resulting in sudden death.

 

"It doesn't seem to be an accident that species have died in succession," said Dr. Sara, wildlife rescue chief scientist of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF). "Although extreme climate change or storms, earthquakes and other disasters may cause such deaths, this situation is unlikely to be such a cause. It is suggested that the corpses of various species should be collected, and toxicological analysis should be carried out now. The water at the mouth of the river needs to be tested. " Dr. Sara speculates that the possibility of algae outbreak is low, and the most likely cause is water pollution. There are also many comments on the Internet, many netizens said that they first heard that the fish was frozen to death because it was too cold to transfer. In addition, there are many Internet speculations that an earthquake may have occurred in the surrounding waters, but the rumor has been dismissed by authorities, and no violent earthquake has occurred in the surrounding waters.

 

"It may be the problem of biodiversity. If there is a problem with the food chain, it will lead to the death of species." Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of the CBCGDF doubted, "the samples have not been tested yet, and it is not sure which chain is the problem."

 

In this regard, the CBCGDF specially invited an expert from the Hainan South China Sea Institute of Tropical Ocean to analyze the situation. Experts give us three basic judgments and a guess based on their understanding. One is that the death of a large number of species is not related to temperature. If it is related to temperature, the sandworms will not come to the beach, and the temperature of the sand should be higher than the seawater. Second, it has nothing to do with the red tide. It's winter now. The temperature is low and the red tide doesn't happen. Third, it has nothing to do with external pollution. If there is external pollution, the mechanism of avoiding harm and seeking the benefit of benthos. The possible cause of death is the change of some unknown cause in the seabed sedimentary layer, which leads to the anoxia and release of toxic chemicals in the sandy soil, thus the benthic species climb out of the sandy soil. Because the toxins released in an instant, the fish have no time to escape and die. Finally, experts suggest that we must test the sand, including PH, organic matter and so on. At the same time, we also need to take samples for pathological analysis of the dead species.

 

This phenomenon is not the first time to be found on the coast of our country. In December 2018, Yantai, Shandong Province, also had razor clams and seafood all over the beach after spring tide. However, different from the situation in Dalian this time, the dead species appeared one after another in Dalian, and there were also the sandworms that should be buried into the sand.

 

The situation is becoming more and more difficult to analyze, and the CBCGDF hopes that relevant departments will immediately carry out investigation and research.

 

In order to further understand the situation, Dalian volunteer team of CBCGDF arrived the first scene to collect razor clam samples (Barracuda is basically invisible due to public collection; sandworms are also missing), and also collected sand and seawater, hoping to conduct further cause analysis and pathological research on the emergency. The results of the study will be available in a few days. It is certain that the cause of death of these creatures is unknown at present.


http://file.cbcgdf.org/T18/O125/image/20200222/20200222212913_9065.png

(Photo credit: CBCGDF volunteers)


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/11406.html


By / Li Xue