Dead Fish Seen in Lake Texoma - KTEN.com - Texoma news, weather and sports

LAKE TEXOMA -- Bruce Hysmith and his team from the Texas Park and Wildlife Department have been studying the dead fish in Lake Texoma since last week.

"Its hard for us to really pinpoint a cause because generally by the time we get there its erased," says Hysmith, a Biologist for Lake Texoma.

Since the fish have been floating in the water for hours, sometimes days before they are found, the evidence which could possibly determine their death has been destroyed.

Monday afternoon biologists set out again to try and determine what is killing these fish.

"The dissolved oxygen is the key thing for fish survival and so probably what is happening is these fish are migrating around the lake and they're coming in contact with water that is void of oxygen," says Hysmith.

His team measured oxygen levels but they were normal.

"We measured oxygen and it was 110% saturation so what that means is you got 10% more than what you really need but that oxygen, that can go away," explain Hysmith.

He says the levels vary substantially in different parts of the lake and at different times of the day.

In parts of the lake Hysmith and his team investigated, they saw about 1600 dead fish and out of the millions of fish that are in the lake that number is very, very small.

The number of dead fish this year so far is not too unusual but Hysmith and his team still want to keep an eye on the situation.

"We are going to keep watching it and you keep checking back with us and we'll let you know so you can keep our friendly fisherman informed."

All in all nothing found Monday afternoon out on the lake was unusual, but they did manage to find some fish worth testing.

"Our Oklahoma counterparts have collected fresh dead fish and they are sending them off to a pathologist to take a look at them maybe the pathologist can lend more insight as to what killed the fish," says Hysmith.