Six dead smalltooth sawfish have washed up on the shores of the Florida Keys in the past week, stunning researchers who have documented a total of 38 deaths since January.
The smalltooth sawfish is on the brink of extinction and a growing number of reported deaths are raising additional concerns among marine biologists.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) performs autopsies on the smalltooth sawfish, including analyzing blood and tissue samples for any toxins in their system.
Researchers are still not sure what is causing the fish die-offs, but Florida has seen an overgrowth of harmful and toxic algae in the ocean that can enter the fish’s bloodstream through the food they eat, which, according to researchers, results in erratic swimming and death. FWC.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rescued a smalltooth sawfish (pictured) after it received reports that it was behaving strangely and swimming in circles
The FWC took blood and tissue samples from the rescued sawfish to determine if there were toxins in the system
There are also reports of smalltooth sawfish beaching themselves, adding to the growing worrying behavior of other fish that have been spotted spinning off the coast of the Florida Keys.
Researchers first documented alarming behavior in some fish species in November last year, when reports began pouring in of fish spinning in circles.
But when they discovered the first dead sawfish earlier this year, researchers wanted to know if the two events could be linked.
‘Are the two related? We can’t say definitively,” said Tom Matthews, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Forbes.
“But we are pursuing this with all the resources we have,” he added.
The smalltooth sawfish is a critically endangered species, probably due to habitat loss. The species once lived as far away as the coast of central West Africa to North Carolina
These events are made even more worrying by reports from local fishermen and divers who said they had seen the sawfish deliberately beach themselves – when an animal washes up on shore and cannot return to the sea.
“When we think of fish behaving strangely or dying, we usually think of low-oxygen conditions in the water or red tide, so we saw neither,” said Mike Parsons, a marine scientist. CNN.
Last week, biologists rescued a sawfish exhibiting similar behavior after the FWC received a call about a sawfish swimming in circles in Cudjoe Key.
Researchers are trying to understand if the two events of the spinning fish and the dead sawfish are related
The biologists use the rescued sawfish (photo) to find out what could be causing the fish to behave so strangely
The biologists analyzed its health, took samples and measurements, and tagged the sawfish before deciding its best chance for survival was to save it.
They loaded it onto a ship and gave it respiratory assistance en route to the Mote Marine Laboratory temporary storage tank in Sarasota, Florida.
The rescue efforts were led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which “has not been attempted before, but this unusual mortality event made it necessary,” said Gil McRae, director of FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
“We are hopeful that this rescue and rehabilitation of a smalltooth sawfish will bring us one step closer to understanding the cause of this event.”
The smalltooth sawfish became the first marine fish to be federally protected in 2003 when it was added to the endangered species list.
It is now illegal to catch, harm, harass or kill a sawfish that was once found along the eastern seaboard, which extends from the central west coast of Africa to North Carolina, but is now mainly for the coast of Florida is found.
Smalltooth sawfish are still under-studied, so it is still unknown how small the population is now, but their loss in numbers is thought to be related to habitat loss.
The FWC said it is working with other marine organizations and universities, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Florida Gulf Coast University, as well as federal, state and local agencies to conduct studies and save other endangered smalltooth sawfish .
The organizations are asking the public for help identifying other deaths or abnormal behavior by calling the sawfish hotline: 844-4-SAWFISH.
DailyMail.com has contacted the FWC and NOAA for comment.