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Biologists from an independent team from the University of Southern California took samples from the dead sardines that choked up Redondo Beach's King Harbor last week, and found they contained domoic acid, a "dangerous neurotoxin," according to KTLA. The USC biologists say that is " what caused the sardines to swim chaotically into the marina."
That toxin, however, is not the cause of death for the sardines. Rather, the USC biologists believe it was oxygen deprivation.
The California Department of Fish and Game also attributes the mass death to a lack of oxygen the millions of fish suffered after they took to the marina to ride out a spring storm at sea. The results of their tests will be released this week.