Twenty big carnivorous fish were discovered floating and dead at the Sukhna Lake's regulator end on Tuesday, after they got "marooned" in a pond that was heavily silted. The deaths follow an intense two days of rain that lashed the region and led to a fall in temperature of the water, contributing to the fish mortality.
Experts have ruled out the possibility of foul play, including poisoning and electrocution by poachers. "The dead fish found at the Sukhna is 'Clarias Batrachus' or 'Magoor,' a catfish which is a carnivore species and can withstand the deficiency of oxygen due to the presence of air-breathing organs. Keeping in mind the normal oxygen level of Sukhna waters, this fish should only live in oxygen-deficient waters and it feels suffocated in well-oxygenated water. This fish must have been evading certain shallow areas in search of food and got marooned in the pond at the regulator end,'' professor emeritus of fisheries at Panjab University, M S Johal, told TOI.
