While you may not find it in any weather forecast, large numbers of tadpoles have fallen out of the sky in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, twice since the beginning of June. There have been cases of fish being sucked up by waterspouts and dumped over land. However, the weather in the region has not been right for waterspouts, leaving authorities here bewildered.
The phenomenon was first noticed in a community centre parking lot in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, at about 4:35 p.m. on June 4, when a man discovered about 100 dead tadpoles - measuring 2-3 centimeters in length - on cars parked there and scattered across the asphalt. The man said that the wind was weak at the time, and he had noticed a pattering sound earlier.
Next, about 40 of the immature amphibians were found around a private home in Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the early morning of June 6. "There were some squished ones, and the ground around them wasn't wet," said the 75-year-old resident of the house. "I was baffled."
Both probable cases of amphibian precipitation have occurred close to paddy fields. According to the Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory, the weather was cloudy on both days - not the conditions for waterspouts.
"Even if the tadpoles had been sucked into the air, other things of about the same volume, like bits of garbage, would have been sucked up and fallen with them," a perplexed observatory official said.
However, it has been pointed out that birds may have dropped the tadpoles. According to a duck observation centre in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, herons and crows eat tadpoles, and could have regurgitated them while bringing them back to their young or when the birds encountered an enemy. On the other hand, "tadpoles are digested quickly, and it's improbable that they would be regurgitated in such a pristine state," the observation centre said.
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