PORT ARANSAS, Texas — There are photos circling social media regarding thousands of dead fish washed up on Port Aransas beach, leaving residents with questions.
Alex Nunez with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Kills and Spills Team said there is some type of bloom at the second or third sand bar south of the jetties in Port Aransas.
TPWD said they have done some testing and found low dissolved oxygen levels; the main species that has been affected is the Gulf Menhaden.
3News was told that this bloom first popped up on Tuesday and they are still investigating. They can confirm that it is not red tide.
Nunez said if you get up on the Horace Caldwell Pier, you should be able to see an area of discolored water. Nunez said there are dead fish in the water at beach access road 1A and dead fish all up and down the beach. It’s predominantly south of the jetties to the Horace Caldwell Pier and then south of the pier as well.
TPWD said they are working with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which is right there by the jetties, on trying to figure out what the bloom is.
"The water is extremely warm right at the end of the summer, and sometimes when you have conditions like this, the oxygen levels can get kind of low and that can affect the animals that live there," Deana Erdner with UTMSI said.
Erdner said while it may look like a lot of fish, it's not enough to affect the overall menhaden population locally. So far, no harmful chemicals have been found in the water, meaning it is still safe for swimming.
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