The Icelandic Marine Research Institute has ruled out that the herring that swam ashore in large numbers and died in Kolgrafafjörður fjord in West Iceland last week were killed by infection, from which the fish stock has suffered for some time. The infection has reportedly not progressed. Captain Runólfur Guðmundsson from Grundarfjörður has put forth the theory that a cold current below the surface of the fjord is to blame, reasoning that it may have been
so cold that ice crystals formed inside the fish and killed them,
Fréttablaðið reports.
© Ljósmynd/Róbert Arnar Stefánsson
Þorsteinn Sigurðsson, manager of the Marine Research Institute's exploitable marine stock division did not dismiss Runólfur's theory but stated that the ocean temperature had been around zero, which the herring are supposed to be able to handle.
Bjarni Sigurbjörnsson, a resident at the farm Eiði by Kolgrafafjörður, said whales and birds have taken advantage of the incident and been feasting on the buffet of nature.
Biologist Róbert Arnar Stefánsson from Stykkishólmur went to the site on Saturday to study the circumstances,
mbl.is reports.
© Ljósmynd/Róbert Arnar Stefánsson
He rules out that the herring died due to lack of food as it didn't look undernourished and that the herring was driven ashore by hunting killer whales or seals because of the sheer quantity.
"People are leaning towards the theory of a sudden cooling. It's not the least likely explanation," Róbert commented, adding he hoped the Marine Research Institute's research would lead to a definite conclusion.
The condition of the herring in the fjord was examined from a boat last weekend. According to
skessuhorn.is, an immense amount of dead herring was found on the ocean floor but no sign of life.
Click here to read more about this story and here to see pictures of the dead herring.
Ptolemy has been ridiculed for conceiving the earth to be the center of the universe, yet modern civilization is seemingly founded upon the hypothesis that the planet earth is the most permanent and important of all the heavenly spheres, and that the gods from their starry thrones are fascinated by the monumental and epochal events taking place upon this spherical ant-hill in Chaos.
From age to age men ceaselessly toil to build cities that they may rule over them with pomp and power – as though a fillet of gold or ten million vassals could elevate man above the dignity of his own thoughts and make the glitter of his scepter visible to the distant stars.
Measured by the infinities of time and space, what are the captains of industry or the lords of finance? If one of these plutocrats should rise until he ruled the earth itself, what would he be but a petty despot seated on a grain of Cosmic dust?