Fish going crazy in Florida Keys. Spinning in circles until they die: what’s going on?

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Researchers think the phenomenon of confused fish swimming in circles until they beach themselves and die may be linked to an algae toxin.

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They appear disoriented and confused, swim with their heads out of the water at times, alternatively bob and sink, and show symptoms of equilibrium issues that researchers theorize could be causing them to lose their balance and swim on their sides or upside down.

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Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) and the Lower Keys Guides Association (LKGA) first received a report of fish in the Florida Keys exhibiting abnormal behavior, colloquially referred to as “the spins,” on November 7, 2023. Fish with the spins experience loss of equilibrium causing them to swim upside down in repeated circles, often following a stressful or stimulating event. Since receiving the initial report, BTT and LKGA have received a total of 57 reports of symptomatic fish.

To date, 25 species have exhibited these abnormal behaviors, including silver mullet, tarpon, permit, snook, pinfish, bigeye scad, ballyhoo, jack crevalle, yellow jack, blue runner, southern stingray, mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, cubera snapper, lane snapper, leatherjacket, yellowfin mojarra, scaled sardine, toadfish, goliath grouper, blue striped grunt, redfish, lemon shark, Atlantic sharpnose, smalltooth sawfish, and spadefish.

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