Many dead fish litter north Lake Erie shore

Associated Press

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.

Canadian officials say tens of thousands of dead fish are littering a section of Lake Erie’s northern shoreline.

Kate Jordan, spokes-woman for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, said Wednesday that the fish washed ashore last weekend. She says they likely died of natural causes, although officials still are awaiting lab-analysis results.

The fish were scattered along a 25-mile stretch between the cities of Windsor and London.

Jordan says investigators found no evidence of a spill or pollution, and water-chemistry measurements turned up nothing unusual.

She says a likely explanation for the fish deaths was a so-called “inversion.” That happens when temperature changes send water with low oxygen levels from the bottom to the surface, causing fish to suffocate.

Among the dead fish were perch, bighead buffalo, sheephead and catfish.