MASS MORTALITIES OF LATES (PISCES: CENTROPOMIDAE) IN LAKE ALBERT

Abstract

Parker attributed a mass mortality of Lates in Lake Albert to the shock effect of an earthquake which occurred at the same time. A consideration of the limnology of the lake and of limitations to the ability of fish to adjust their buoyancy suggests that the immediate cause of the mortality could have been loss of hydrostatic equilibrium when these fish, which are intolerant of low oxygen concentrations, were forced to rise by a surge of oxygen-depleted water along the bottom. Such surges can be initiated by meteorological factors, density currents or earthquakes.