An unsettling smell greeted waking residents of a city in Argentina who were aghast to discover that thousands of dead fish had washed ashore overnight.
The strange scene took place at a lagoon in the city of Santa Rosa earlier this week and had some people worried that the fish had perished due to some kind of pollutant.
However, an examination of the dead fish by wildlife official determined that the creatures had actually died of natural causes.
Specifically, they say that high temperatures combined a low water levels to reduce the oxygenation of the lagoon to the point that it became uninhabitable for the poor fish.
Interestingly, this conclusion was reached because of the specific species which died as there are, apparently, some heartier types of fish that have managed to survive the water's conditions.
Nonetheless, the city intends to have the water tested so that any lingering fears from residents can be put to rest.
Until then, though, authorities were faced with a fairly daunting task in the form of removing the thousands of dead fish from the beach.
The clean up proved to be so extensive that the Argentinian army was called in to help and workers even used a giant excavator to scoop up the seemingly endless supply of dead fish.
Source: La Nacion (via Google Translate)