Heavy Rains Could Be To Blame For Bay Area Shark Die-Off
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- This winter's heavy rains may be to blame for a rash of leopard shark deaths in San Francisco Bay.
State biologists say the rain could be reducing the salinity of the bay's water, having a fatal effect on the sharks' body chemistry.
The evidence for that theory is so far not conclusive. Biologists are hopeful that blood and tissue samples expected to be released this week will shed more light on a possible cause.
More than 100 of the sharks have washed ashore in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties over the past month.
Necropsies of some of the sharks showed they were suffering from internal bleeding and brain lesions.
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