VIJAYAWADA:It rained fish. Or so the villagers thought when they found them aplenty in their paddy fields at Gollamudi in Nandigama mandal of Krishna district on Friday.
When the news of hundreds of fish of a particular variety being found in the fields spread, several villagers rushed to collect them in plastic bags.
Some, who found big fish, started hitting them with sticks to catch them. A similar incident was reported from the neighbouring Ithavaram village. In all, about 200 kg fish were said to have been collected by the villagers during the day. Some cooked them while some others sold them, making some fast buck. The fish weighed about 50 g each.
Later, it turned out that nothing mysterious has taken place. It is actually a case of fish finding way into the agricultural fields when a nearby water body overflows in times of heavy rain.
“Due to heavy rain and strong winds, the fish in the nearby ponds and lakes were washed away into the fields and roads. When the water got evaporated, the fish remained in the fields and on the roads. There was nothing like ‘fish rain’,” said fisheries department joint director P Jai Rao.
He explained that strong winds are capable of displacing small fish from ponds in a radius of 1 km.