SAEDNEWS: Lajamanu is a town on the edge of a dry desert in Australia that has previously experienced a similar phenomenon in 2010, 2004, and the 1980s. In 2010, the exact same type of fish also fell in this town.
According to Saed News, citing Bitoteh, a strange phenomenon occurred in the small town of Lajamanu, a dry region in northern Australia located 900 kilometers north of Darwin, where it literally rained fish, leaving local residents amazed.
The Daily Mail reports that, interestingly, this is not the first time: in the past 30 years, a similar event has occurred in this region four times, most recently in 2010.
Andrew Johnson Japannaga, a member of the local council and the Central Desert community in Lajamanu, described the event: “We saw a huge storm approaching our area and expected only rain. But when the rain started, we realized that along with the water, countless fish were falling to the ground.”
Jeff Johnson, a fisheries expert at the Queensland Museum, explained that these were native Australian fish known as Leiopotherapon—single-colored species roughly the size of a child’s palm. The fish fell throughout the night, and residents awoke to streets filled with them, many still alive. Japannaga added, “Some of the fish are still alive in puddles, swimming around. Children pick them up and keep them in jars or small tanks.”
Known as spangled grunters, this species is one of the most common freshwater fish in Australia. They can grow up to 25.5 centimeters in length, though they typically measure around 15 centimeters.
While the exact cause of the fish rain remains unclear, Lajamanu has experienced similar events multiple times—in 2010, 2004, and the 1980s. In 2010, the same species of fish fell from the sky. Interestingly, unusual “animal rain” events, including frogs, bats, worms, and spiders, have been reported in different parts of the world.
Alice Springs resident, who witnessed fish rain in Lajamanu during the 1980s, recalled: “One morning I woke up while working at the school. The dirt roads outside my home were full of tiny fish. There were so many of them—it was truly astonishing.”
Scientists suggest that such events may be caused by small animals being sucked up into a tornado-like column of fast-moving air over water, traveling long distances before falling back to the ground. The U.S. Library of Congress reports that water spouts can be strong enough to pull small animals into their vortex.
Ernest Egie of Purdue University stated: “I’ve seen small ponds completely drained after a passing tornado. It’s not surprising that frogs or other creatures could be lifted and fall like rain.”
Once animals are drawn into these air currents, they may be deposited far away, potentially explaining the animal rain observed in Texarkana in 2021. Another theory suggests that birds may carry fish in their beaks and accidentally drop them during flight, which was proposed to explain thousands of anchovies falling over San Francisco in 2022.
Lajamanu, being far from the sea and located on the edge of a desert, has limited nearby water sources. Some experts propose that local flooding, rather than a literal fish rain, may account for the phenomenon. Michael Hammer, curator at the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery, explained: “Often, after rain, people find fish scattered across town. In many cases, local floods carry fish from small waterholes onto streets. However, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that a small storm could move fish through the air and deposit them elsewhere.”
