Hundreds of fish jumped out of the lake in China, what happened?

On August 6, residents and tourists on boats witnessed a strange scene on Dianchi Lake in Kunming City, Yunnan Province (China).

It is a phenomenon of schools of fish jumping out of the water . The amazing scene was recorded by witnesses. This scene was shared on social networks and attracted the attention of many people.

A series of fish continuously jumped out of the water, creating a scene that looked like a carp jumping over the Dragon Gate to become a dragon. This made the locals and tourists who witnessed it praise it endlessly. This scene looked like an extremely attractive performance.

Employees working at Dien Tri Lake said this was the first time they had witnessed such a strange scene.

On the morning of August 7, when reporters in China went to the area where the most fish were jumping, the western dock of Dianchi Lake, the phenomenon continued to occur. Some fish even jumped onto the side of boats moored on the shore. While the reporters were interviewing and filming, a large fish suddenly jumped up and rushed to the shore.

A school of fish jumped out of the water at Dien Tri Lake, surprising many locals and tourists. (Photo cut from video)

Locals said the fish started jumping to the surface of the lake on August 6, and then more when the boat moved. This strange scene is very similar to the image of carp jumping over the Dragon Gate, some even jumped onto nearby boats.

Ms. Tran Tinh, manager of a company that transports tourists by boat on Dien Tri Lake, said: " The sight of fish jumping out of the lake is rare. The reason for this phenomenon may be due to the recent heavy rains and lack of oxygen in the water, causing the fish to jump up ."

However, this is just Ms. Tran's guess. In addition, there are also opinions that the ban on fishing in the lake for the past 10 years has led to a rapid increase in the number of fish in the lake.

" After discovering many fish jumping out of the water, we arranged all the staff. If any fish jumped onto the boat or other places, the staff will bring the fish back to the lake ," Ms. Tran added.

Dianchi Lake is a famous destination in Kunming city, Yunnan province (China). (Photo: UDN).

Immediately after receiving information about the strange phenomenon, experts were present at Dien Tri Lake and are investigating the cause. Experts said that the fish jumping out of the lake were mainly silver carp .

Silver carp are freshwater fish. They are sensitive to changes in water currents and tend to live in schools. According to experts, in recent days, heavy rains have occurred in the Yunnan region, causing an increase in the amount of water flowing into the lake. This may have stimulated the silver carp and caused them to jump. In addition, the frequent entry and exit of cruise ships to pick up and drop off tourists in the Dianchi Lake area has also caused disturbances in the water currents, affecting the fish's behavior.

However, according to Kunming city authorities, although they have not received a report on the incident, the cause of the fish jumping could be due to lack of oxygen in the water or the weather.

The phenomenon of jumping fish has happened many times.

The phenomenon of fish jumping all over the surface of Xuanwu Lake (Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province) occurred on June 23, 2020. (Photo: N News).

This is not the first time this strange phenomenon has occurred in China. Previously, on June 23, 2020, many people were extremely surprised to witness the scene of hundreds of fish suddenly jumping out of the surface of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province.

Or most recently, on June 24, 2023, a video recorded the scene of dozens of fish jumping out of the surface of a pond in a scenic area in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province (China). This strange scene lasted for 10 minutes.

After the incident, experts were invited to test the water quality in the pond and found nothing unusual. Immediately after the incident, experts were invited to test the water in the pond. However, they found nothing unusual.

A researcher from the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that hot weather can be the cause of stress reactions in silver carp . Because this fish species is easily startled and highly sensitive. As soon as they sense changes in weather or environmental factors, the most sensitive fish will jump out of the water. Other fish in the pond will jump in and create a phenomenon similar to the herd effect.