Officials are investigating the fish kill but say that according to preliminary results the cause was likely stress from unusually cold water temperatures.
"Our theory is that it was a very rapid temperature drop," MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said. "Obviously, these are fish that are susceptible to very cold temperatures."
Surface water temperatures reached about 0.5 degrees Celcius in December, the coldest on record in 25 years of monitoring, according to data from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Bay Program.
The dead fish are mainly juvenile spot fish, just 3 to 6 inches in length. Officials say about 2 million dead fish have been found.
2 Million Fish Dead Maryland
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