Millions of dead fish are washing up in Australia

YABBIES, FRESHWATER lobsters native to Australia, thrive in the outback for a reason. They can tolerate high temperatures and drought, and need hardly any oxygen in their water. Yet even for them the Darling river, which snakes through western New South Wales, is proving uninhabitable. Swarms of yabbies were recently seen scrambling out of its murky water. On March 17th the river was blanketed by millions of dead freshwater fish, herring, perch and cod, near the town of Menindee. Graeme McCrabb, a local, estimates the “line of dead fish” stretches over 100km. “It has an odour that’s pretty unique,” he says.