Do fish die when lightning strikes the ocean

The only thing it pretty much does is just either stun the fish near the lightning strike or fry them. There would likely be less danger to a fish in the ocean near a lightning strike than to you at the same distance in a pool.

If lightening strikes a body of water that fish live in then those in the immediate area would be electrocuted and dieThe vaultage would dissipate further away from the initial point of contact so the shock to the fish would be lessened - therefore the further away the fish are the more chance that they would survive.

Do fish die when lightning strikes the ocean. So there you have it no the fish generally dont die en mass when lightning strikes. Lightning striking the ocean is quickly dissipated across the surface but if you happen to be swimming about with a nice big steel conductor tied to your back like a scuba diver you could well up your odds of being hit and in for a rough day. Do Fish Die When Lightning Strikes Water.

April 12 2021 721 AM Mixing water and electricity is no joke so what keeps fish safe from lightning strikes hitting the ocean. Bodies of water are frequently struck by lightning. So why dont all the fish die.

Before a lightning strike a charge builds up along the waters surface. When lightning strikes most of electrical discharge occurs near the waters surface. Most fish swim below the surface and are unaffected.

When lightning strikes the ocean why dont all the fish die. When the lightning is in the atmosphere its current is concentrated because the atmosphere is mostly an insulator. When the current gets into salt water it will spread out in a hemisphere because salt water is a good conductor.

Joe DrivasStoneGetty Images. While fish near the surface may die when lightning strikes the water the fish that are deep underwater are likely to survive. Lightning strikes the surface of the water but its electricity is neutralized deeper down.

Chris Smith put Johns question to marine biologist Danielle Green. Danielle - When lightening strikes the sea it spreads out horizontally rather than vertically so it would spread out along the surface. And because most fish and marine organisms tend to live at deeper depths theyre likely to avoid being struck by lightning but it doesnt mean.

Does lightning in the ocean kill fish. So when lightning hits the water the current zips across the surface in all directions. And if youre swimming anywhere in the vicinity itll probably hit you.

But below the surface most of the electricity is instantly neutralized. So the fish are generally spared. Fish which usually move around at greater depths are safer than human swimmers.

Protruding heads or even entire bodies such as those presented by surfers or paddle boarders could put people in. When electricity passes through biological tissues it heats them up and cause various amount of damages. So if you were struck by lightning this is what would happen.

Now the fish in the sea or oceans are not in the path of the lightning as the sea water around them is more electrically conductive in nature hence they are still alive. Lightning doesnt strike the ocean as much as land but when it doesit spreads out over the water which acts as a conductor. It can hit boats that are nearby and electrocute fish that are near the surface.

If youre at the beach and hear thunder or see lightning get out of the water. Fish typically dont get killed in large quantities by lightning because as you guessed once again they tend to swim deeper than humans do while according to Florida physics professor Joseph. Do Fish Die When Lightning Strikes Water.

Mixing water and electricity is no joke so what keeps fish safe from lightning strikes hitting the ocean. Answered on 20 Jun 2011. The water in the ocean contains dissolved salts and this helps conduct electricity so most of the lightning stays near the surface.

Though if fish are nearby where the lightning hits they may get hurt or die because some of the electricity from the lightning can travel down into the water. When lightning strikes the ocean it doesnt really do anything. The only thing it pretty much does is just either stun the fish near the lightning strike or fry them.

For much the same reason that lightning striking an aircraft does not kill all the passengers. Water is a good conductor and a lake or the ocean has a lot of it so the current density flowing through any chunk of water is not very great. Its easier for the current to flow around the fish than it is to flow through the fish.

There would likely be less danger to a fish in the ocean near a lightning strike than to you at the same distance in a pool. Though Id wager youd be at less risk than a fish on the surface of the water at the same distance assuming your head didnt become the target of the strike due to how they breathe. Fish can be killed by lightning strikes and sometimes are.

Swimmers can also be killed by lightning strikes. Most of the fish are far enough away from the strike because they are deep under the water That the electrical energy has spread out and dissipated enough the fish wont get harmed. That is why people are killed in a pool from lightning strikes.

Most of the people that survive such strikes were probably floating in the water not touching anything else but the water thus not completing a circuit. I would suggest that most fish in the ocean do not get killed. Mixing water and electricity is no joke so what keeps fish safe from lightning strikes hitting the ocean.

If lightening strikes a body of water that fish live in then those in the immediate area would be electrocuted and dieThe vaultage would dissipate further away from the initial point of contact so the shock to the fish would be lessened - therefore the further away the fish are the more chance that they would survive. Do Fish Die When Lightning Strikes Water. Mixing water and electricity is no joke so what keeps fish safe from lightning strikes hitting the ocean.