Does Lightning Kill fishes or Marine Creatures in ocean?

• Do you ever got doubt about what happens if lightning strikes ocean? 

• How Lightning Strikes Affect Marine Creatures?

• Why Doesn't Lightning Strike Deeper into the Ocean?  

   -->Our view would the entire ocean would experience the shock as water is good conductor of electricity but the fact is.....

  There are plenty of stories of people getting hit by lightning but few about lightning fried fish. Find out whether lighting strikes hit fish and why or why not.

Conventional wisdom says to get out of the water when a storm approaches. However, while people are scrambling for shore, the fish and whales of the sea stay right in the water. 

 Considering sea creatures still exist in the ocean it would seem they are unaffected by lightning. This is only mostly true and a look at how lightning and the ocean work will explain whether or not lightning strikes kill fish.

How Often Does Lightning Hit the Ocean?

 

Fortunately for fish, lightning does not often strike the ocean, relatively speaking. NASA uses satellites to track storms and lightning around the world and reports in its December 2001 article “Where Lightning Strikes” how Florida and Central Africa are more likely to get hit than the open ocean. One of water’s special properties is its high heat capacity, which means air above the ocean won’t heat as much as air above land. Since hot low-lying air is necessary for thunderclouds to form, the open ocean doesn’t see too much lightning. Hurricanes of course do form over the ocean however these storms rarely have lightning, reports NASA in "Electric Hurricanes".

What Happens When Lightning Strikes the Ocean?

Although lightning is less likely to strike the ocean, these bolts of electricity do on occasion make it to sea. As lightning hits the ocean the electric current spreads along the surface of the water, rather than downward says April Holladay in her March 5, 2004 USA Today “Wonder Quest”. Since the lightning bolt does not continue down into the depths of the ocean it is less likely to affect fish. However, people on the surface can be affected. Holladay goes on to quote National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) scientist David Schultz as saying lightning strikes have killed people at the ocean’s surface more than 30 yards from the hit. This is due to how water conducts electricity.

Why Doesn't Lightning Strike Deeper into the Ocean?

Lightning spreads across the surface of the ocean due to a phenomenon called the skin effect which simply refers to an electric current's tendency to stay at the surface of a conductor. Meanwhile, skin depth refers to how deeply an electric current can penetrate a conductor. Richard Fitzpatrick, a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, explains on his page "Propagation in a conductor" how in good conductors skin depth decreases as wave frequency increases. Salt water is a good conductor, so when lightning hits it has a fairly low skin depth.

Do Fish Die From Lightning Strikes?

Since lightning tends to spread along the surface of the ocean, where humans swim, it’s best for people to leave the water. Fish are generally found deeper in the ocean where the electric current is less likely to catch them, however a fish unfortunate enough to be at the surface close to a lightning bolt would most certainly be fried. NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory notes in its “About Lightning…FAQ” page that lightning can penetrate a short distance into the water and kill fish nearby. Martin Uman of the University of Florida’s electrical and engineering department says the danger zone for fish is 10 to 20 feet down, as referenced in the MSN Encarta column “Martha Talks Back” by Martha Brockenborough. Ultimately, the answer to the question “Does lightning kill fish?” is – occasionally, but not often.

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