Videos show fish swimming through flooded streets of NJ community

Videos show schools of fish swimming through the flooded streets of a Jersey Shore community.

In the videos recorded over the weekend, mullet swim in roads and alongside homes in Manasquan, New Jersey.

“That’s unusual,” Michael Hintz of Manasquan, New Jersey, told NBC10. “I’ve never seen them in February. I see them more in the spring.”

Nick Honachefsky, a professional writer, expert angler and TV host, said he received numerous reports of mullet sightings in both Ocean and Monmouth counties. He told NBC10 the bait fish typically aren’t seen in the area until the spring after migrating south.

“That’s what really startled me because mullet generally leave our waters in the fall,” Honachefsky said. “I believe it’s because the water temps are only about 48 degrees in the back. We’ve had another mild winter.”

Dr. Thomas Grothues, a marine science professor at Rutgers University, called the recent fishy encounter a “surprise.”

“I’ve never seen mullet here in February,” he said. “The simple answer is they haven’t left. The complex answer as to why is that there must have been some sort of a warm water trap.”

NBC10’s Ted Greenberg asked Dr. Grothues if the unusual sighting could be an indication of climate change.

“It’s an episode,” he replied. “And so we can’t link ever an episode – a particular episode – to climate change. What we get where we’re looking at climate change would be if the episodes are increasing in number or in duration in length.

Tuesday’s storm is expected to bring widespread coastal flooding to the Jersey Shore, meaning more fish could soon be swimming in the streets again.

“Anywhere where you’re going to see flooding, I think you might actually see a bunch of mullet,” Honachefsky said. “So if you want to cast at them now and freeze them for baits in the spring, may as well go out in your backyard and do it.”