Why? Because you could be smelling what’s assaulting nostrils in Oakland, California
From The Guardian, U.S. Edition
Thousands of fish carcasses have been floating up to the edges of the San Francisco Bay, and the scummy top of Oakland’s Lake Merritt – stewing under the sun and wafting a putrid stench into nearby neighborhoods.
The dead bat rays, striped bass, sturgeon, anchovies, and clams, are probably mass victims of an algal bloom that scientists are racing to understand. In the meantime citizen scientists, local photographers, joggers, and naturalists have been capturing dramatic photos of the die-off.
“The diversity of life in Lake Merritt is just incredible,” said Damon Tighe, a naturalist who documents wildlife in the lake, a unique ecosystem in Oakland, California, that contains both fresh and saltwater. A range of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks call the lake home as do large breeding populations of herons, egrets, geese, and ducks. Salmon, sturgeon, jellyfish, and leopard sharks have also navigated into the lake in recent years.
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