Scientists: Virus likely cause of catfish kill
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Dead catfish lie on the beach on the north side of Dauphin Island Tuesday in Dauphin Island, Alabama.
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DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama. (AP) -- Dead catfish have washed up by the thousands on the Alabama coast, and scientists say they are probably victims of a virus that also struck in 1996.
The fish washed up Tuesday, spread over miles of beachfront at Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan. Alabama conservation officials said many more would wash up Wednesday.
Scientists sent tissue samples to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for testing, with results due back in about a week, said Mark Van Hoose of the Alabama Marine Resources Division.
In May 1996, tens of thousands of hardhead catfish were killed Gulf-wide by what scientists later determined was a virus. The catfish virus hasn't killed mass numbers of fish since then.
Tommy Nishimura of Dog River was white trout fishing on a backyard pier on the island's north side when he noticed white dots speckling the Mississippi Sound.
"I thought when we first started fishing this morning that they were whitecaps. Then I looked all around us and realized that they were dead catfish, thousands of them," Nishimura said.
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