Science Explains - Fish Rain

in #science7 years ago

Picture


And another short series to keep you entertained while I’m on vacation! This time it’s titled Science explains and revolves around weird phenomena. I hope you’ll have as much fun reading it as I had researching!


It’s raining fish! Wait, what? Fish? Those should be in the water not raining down to the ground!

Although it seems like a weird story made up to collect some upvotes it really happened in Sri Lanka in 2014. And it wasn’t the first time this ever happened. There have been reports that a similar rain happened in the year 1900 in Providence, Rhode Island.

But how did this happen? How was it possible that fish with a weight of several kilograms are lifted up into the air and then dropped about a kilometer away from water?

Certain weather conditions can cause waterspouts or mini-tornados which, if they’re strong enough, pick up the local wildlife and carry them a significant distance before spitting them out again. And that doesn’t only happen to fish!

Prawns, frogs or spiders can also fall victim to strong winds that rip them from their homes and let them rain down somewhere else.

Of course, something like “Sharknado” is a bit unlikely. While it is possible that some animals that are dragged away survive the whole procedure, it’s deadly for a lot of them, especially the ones that depend on water. Additionally, Sharks are way too heavy – and usually too deep under the surface to be picked up.

Still, if you leave the house one day and are hit by some weird animal falling out of the sky that isn’t supposed to be up there in the first place, you know what’s going on.


Sources:

Fish rain down on Sri Lanka village

Weatherwatch: Raining fish

Waterspout


Picture taken from pixabay.com


Got a scientific topic which you want to see as a story? Leave me a comment!
You want to support scientists on Steemit? You are a scientist on Steemit? Join the #steemSTEM channel on steemit.chat and connect with us!
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

SteemStem

Monster GIF by @saywha and @atopy

Sort:  

I had heard about this in the internet.
I want to share a story that I witnessed. We were playing in the courtyard of our house.. kid's thing u see. All of a sudden, something just fell infront of us out of nowhere and hafazardly started crawling in the different direction. It was bundle of 5-6 babysnakes out of clear sky. No trees.. no nothing. I still wonder how is that even possible.. @suesa

Thank you for good post:)

Want to add a little: The most frequent abnormal rain is still tadpoles rain. Because the eggs of frogs are quite light and often carried away by the hurricanes. A rain of spiders is also quite often phenomenon.

Just recently I read about a rain of worms in Jennings city (USA) in 2007 :)

When I first heard about the fish rain I was totally mesmerized and decided to argue over it terming it impossible and thus false, but then I heard about it over and over again and was like... WOW!!! What the heck is happening?

I'm together with @planetmarketers on this one and strongly pray it does not rain reptiles someday... I would run off to mars..

@suesa I hope it won't rain rattlesnakes someday, deserts do have strong winds and rattlesnakes live

Sharknado? Hehe. Thank you for cracking me up and I love your short science posts as well. Hope you are doing great on your vacation! ^^

first vote, first comment, dejavu! I knew about this one, but still interesting to share :D

Finally in your time zone, eh? Or are you constantly refreshing my blog to be first? 😂

Adds a new meaning to the phrase "raining cats and dogs". It's always fascinating that there's a bunch of stuff falling from the sky from rocks (meteorites, etc.) to roadkill like this one, and find an explanation of where they come from. Interesting stuff!

Eww gross! This is why I never like to leave my house lol

If the conspiracy theorists are right and the government can control the weather then maybe they could pick up some fish and drop them in famine stricken countries :-)

But they aren't and they can't so they won't

@suesa before I say thank you
I love to read your post
I can give a little comment on this post.
it is fitting and the truth of the rain of the fish is there.
when the parent fish experience the breeding season
and will cause great fish rains.
what else happens the breeding season on sharks.
it is no longer a turnado, but more than that.
thank you for sharing knowledge @suesa

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.18
TRX 0.14
JST 0.029
BTC 57062.81
ETH 3068.42
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.43