Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Full Version: Fish fall from the sky in Texas
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Partly cloudy and warm....with a chance of perch.

https://www.azfamily.com/news/us_world_n...7yS-_4cYOo

TEXARKANA, Texas (KSLA/Gray News) – "You’ve probably heard it raining cats and dogs, but have you heard it raining fish and frogs?

Several residents in east Texas have reported seeing fish all over the ground after they apparently fell from the sky during a rainstorm Wednesday.

Viewers sent KSLA pictures and videos of the falling fish.


According to The City of Texarkana, animal rain happens when small water animals like fish, frogs and crabs are swept up in waterspouts or drafts that happen on the surface.

Then, those small animals fall back to the ground with the rain.

According to KSLA, multiple instances of animal rain have been reported around the world."
Yep. Saw it in Florida decades ago.
(Dec 30, 2021 11:07 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ]Partly cloudy and warm....with a chance of perch.

According to The City of Texarkana, animal rain happens when small water animals like fish, frogs and crabs are swept up in waterspouts or drafts that happen on the surface.

Then, those small animals fall back to the ground with the rain.

According to KSLA, multiple instances of animal rain have been reported around the world."

It's true that there have been lots of reports of this kind of thing. The trouble (Charles Fort made this objection back in the day) with the waterspout hypothesis is that the falls are often a single species. And one would expect waterspouts to pick up lots of mud, vegetation and whatever, not to select individuals of a single species of frog or whatever it is.

So I'm skeptical of the waterspout hypothesis. I don't know what the answer is.
I could see a waterspout happening upon a single school of fish, as the one I saw seemed to consist of. Don't know about a larger variety in a single instance.