Originally Posted by
florida joe
http:///forum/post/3036717
I believe that when a fish dies bacteria living in its gut enters its tissues and as these bacteria feed on the fish they release gases and the trapped gases cause the fish to go belly up.
Fish also have a swim bladder, which they use to control depth. I think that air remaining in their bladder after they die causes them to rise to the surface belly up
Yep bacteria will do that to fish and it's a darn good thing it doesn't do that to us
I am not sure about this, but I think that it is sort of like our blinking. If we die with our eyes open, they stay open and if we die with them closed, they stay closed...
And with fish, if they inflated their bladder when they died, it will stay inflated and they will float.
Sometimes I'll go to places like wal*mart and see freshwater fish with giant abdomens floating at the surface and that is an indication that they have been there long enough for the bacteria to produce mass quantities of gas.