• Question: When lightening strikes the sea why dont the fish die?

    Asked by emilyshearsmith to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 18 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Sometimes fish do die when lightning strikes the sea, if they are close to the lightning strike and close to the surface of the water. But most of the fish are far away from the lightning strike, so the current does not reach them 🙂

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      The fish would have to be very close to where the lightning struck the sea for them to die, otherwise the charge from the lightning spreads out over a large area, which dilutes the damage.

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Some might die very close to the lightning strike, but the charge from the lightning bolt quickly spreads out in the water, so there’s no big electric current going through fish even a mile away.

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