In February Penghu's (澎湖) fisheries and coastal marine habitats experienced their most catastrophic mass fish deaths in his-tory when a series of cold fronts caused sea temperatures to fall dramatically.
Now, hot on the heels of the mass deaths comes another new phenomenon -- "April Snow" -- after piles of fish scales washed up on shore, covering the local beaches of Makung's (馬公) Ching Bay (清灣) in a blanket of white.
Preliminary investigations have identified the scales as the remains of fish that died and washed up onto the shore. Experts on site have said that the scale snow poses no threat to the health of the environment.
PHOTO: LIU YU-CHING, TAIPEI TIMES
A week ago, Makung fisherman Chen Yi-she (陳怡奢) discovered that the snow-like scales were piled 50cm high and had covered a 50m stretch of the bay.
Upon approaching the white mass, he found remnants including skeletons and bones mixed with scales of Sind's sardine.
Most mass fish deaths in the Ching Bay disaster were Sind's sardine. Chen said that the fish bodies may have sunk into the sea and rotted, releasing the fish scales, which floated to the surface before being washed up onto the shore.
The shores look like a white stretch of snow from afar, but like real snow the scales had dissipated back into the ocean with Penghu's recent mild weather, reducing the height of the pile by a good 15cm.
After being informed of the phenomenon, the Council of Agriculture sent Penghu ocean habitat research center assistant research fellow Hsieh Heng-yi (謝恆毅) to the scene to examine the nature of the strange marine phenomenon.
Hsieh identified and confirmed that the scales belong to Sind's sardines.
Because fish scales are cutinized protein, Hsieh assured the public that they do not pose a threat to the ocean. However, because Penghu had experienced the heaviest blow to its environment in a century, the ocean ecosystem had been altered.
For example, certain crustaceans had rapidly multiplied after the catastrophe, as have some types of seaweeds, both of which are signs that the ecosystem has been changed, Hsieh said, adding that the center will closely monitor the changes.
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