100,000 Fish Killed In Middle River, Tributaries

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Environmental officials say more than 100,000 fish have died in the upper Middle River and some of its tributaries in Baltimore County.

Jay Apperson, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment, said in a news release Friday that the fish kill occurred over the past several days in the upper river and Norman Creek, Hopkins Creek and Dark Head Cove.

The fish include largemouth bass, yellow perch, bluegills, crappies, chain pickerel, pumpkinseed sunfish, carp, killifish and Atlantic menhaden.
Preliminary testing indicates a strain of algae that produces a toxin that is lethal to fish caused the kill, Apperson says. The toxin isn't harmful to people or to other animals, he says.

The fish kill appears to be the largest in Maryland this year, Apperson says.
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