Residents of the Florida Keys have spotted hundreds of sharks swimming along canals adjoining their properties as the fish attempt to escape a toxic red tide.
Bonnethead, black tip, nurse and lemon sharks have all been reported over the past month during the red tide, an overgrowth of microorganisms that can turn ocean water red, deplete oxygen levels and concentrate toxins in the water.
"You saw fins at first just like popping up and then you would look down the canal and with a little bit of the sun, you just saw more and more and you were like, 'Oh, that is not good'," said John Wagman, who lives in Longboat Key on Florida's west coast.
Longboat Key is a few kilometres from a breach at the abandoned Piney Point fertiliser plant in April that pumped tens of millions of litres of toxic discharge into Tampa Bay.
