#fish falls

On this day:

FISH FALLS

On February 11, 1859, in the village of Mountain Ash, Aberdare, South Wales, thousands of living fish fell from the sky during two violent storms, ten minutes apart. The dense downpour took place only in the area around a lumber yard, where many fish were found on the roof. Specimens between one and four inches long fell during the first bout, and others up to five inches long fell during the second. The town curate reported that collected samples were preserved in both fresh and salt water and that those in the saline died. Fish were collected by locals and sent to the British Museum, where Dr. John Gray, keeper of zoology, identified them as minnow and sticklebacks. In February 1839, again in Aberdare, there were two fish falls, ten minutes apart showering the same spot, an area twelve yards by eighty yards.

In 1947, freshwater fish fell in Marksville, Louisiana, during foggy but calm weather. They were a local species, and many were collected for the evening meal.

In 1965, on an Alabama farm, a couple watched a small dark cloud form in the sky. It began to downpour over a concentrated area of 200 square feet for fifteen minutes, while the cloud turned from black to white, raining live catfish, bass, and bream. There had been no unusual weather previously.

In 1985, Fort Worth, Texas, fish fell from a dark cloud following thunderstorm activity. Observer Louis Castoreno commented, "It scared me. When you see fish coming down out of the sky, and there's nobody around, that's scary." Thirty-four fish, each approximately two inches long, were of the type that Castoreno had unsuccessfully fished for in the local Trinity River.

On this day:

FISHY SKIES

On February 16, 1861, an earthquake shook the island nation of Singapore. It was followed by three days of flooding rain that brought fish pouring down from the sky. Esteemed naturalist Francis de Castelnau related that as the clouds lifted, the sun shone down in the streets upon a crowd of local Chinese and Malays filling baskets with the fish swimming in the rain puddles. The species, Clarias batrachi, was local to the area. Dead fish soon covered the area as the pools evaporated.

Castelnau first thought that the fish had come in from a nearby overflowing stream, but then he realized that the wall surrounding his abode would have prevented them from entering his yard. One old timer in the area recalled fish falling from the sky when he was a child.

In February 1830, in Faridpoor, India, various sizes of fish, weighing between one and three pounds, rained down; some were fresh, but others decayed and headless. In 1839, in Calcutta, fish fell and were kept alive in a tank. They fell in a straight line. In 1850, in Fajkote, fish poured down, completely covering the ground and the tops of area haystacks.

In February 1859, in Glamorganshire, Wales, John Lewis testified that fish rained down upon his village when he was out gathering timber. They slipped down his back and filled his hat brim. They coated the roof of his workshop, filled pipes, and covered the entire ground around him, jumping about while he and his wife began to scoop them up into buckets and toss them into a pool. There were two falls, ten minutes apart, and each lasting only a few minutes. The fish fell in a straight line twelve yards wide and eighty yards long.