Effects of a Natural Fish Kill on the Water Quality, Plankton, and Fish Population of a Pond in the Big Cypress Swamp, Florida

Abstract

Abstract A naturally occurring fish kill took place during the southern Florida dry season when receding water levels forced aquatic organisms out of shallow swamps and into a small pond. Physico-chemical parameters of water quality varied greatly from their usual range as did the abundance of phytoplankton which reached a peak of 2.5 X 109 cells per liter. The fish kill had no effect on the long-term limnological characteristics of the pond, as water quality returned to normal range within 2 months and phytoplankton disappeared within 1 month after the fish kill. The species of fish in the pond showed a range of susceptibility to low oxygen concentration and other aspects of the fish kill. They were classified into three categories based upon their survival: Notemigonus crysoleucas, Lucania goodei, and all centrarchids were eliminated rapidly; Fundulus chrysotus, Poecilia latipinna, Heterandria formosa, and Ictalurus natalis were either eliminated late in the fish kill or survived in numbers lower than m...