Thousands of dead fish wash up on Texas beach

Thousands of dead fish washed up on a Texas beach due to what wildlife officials say was "low dissolved oxygen" in the water. 

Most of the dead fish were menhaden that started washing up south of Houston on Friday near the mouth of the Brazos River, officials with the Quintana Beach County Park in Brazoria County said.

As dead fish were floating to the shore, one fisherman reported seeing fish carcasses 10 miles out, county park officials said over the weekend on Facebook.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Kills and Spills Team said Sunday that the fish kill was "caused by a low dissolved oxygen event," which is "common in the summer when temperatures increase."

Oxygen enters the water through the surface, but calm seas prevent this from happening. Additionally, oxygen enters the water through photosynthesis from microscopic phytoplankton or macroalgae, but the area has had numerous overcast days that prevent photosynthesis from happening with natural sunlight.

Fish need oxygen in the water, but water samples taken from the affected areas "were found to have almost no dissolved oxygen," park officials also said. There was no evidence chemicals of any kind were involved in the incident.

Quintana Beach said it was mostly cleaned up by Sunday and high tides should shift the rest of the fish remains into the sand. 

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.