Live Fish Found In Likely Tsunami Debris

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

Date: 04 April 2013 Time: 06:50 PM ET

The strangest stowaways yet have arrived on U.S. shores via debris possibly from the 2011 Japan tsunami: Live fish.

The fish, which live off the coast of Japan and Hawaii, apparently made their way across the Pacific in a drifting 18-foot (5.5 meter) skiff. Of the five fish that made the journey, one is still alive and is being kept at the Seaside Aquarium in Oregon.

"These fish could have been originally from Japanese waters, or they could have been picked up going close by the Hawaii coast," said Allen Pleus, the aquatic invasive species coordinator at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This is the first time live vertebrates (animals with backbones) have been found in tsunami debris.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/28468-live-fish-tsunami-debris.html