Spontaneous fish deaths alarm Filipinos

And the latest apocalyptic mass animal death is… 800 tons of fish, whose lives spontaneously ended in the Philippines.

According to the ABS-CBN TV news channel, the fish may have died from a sudden temperature change brought on by rainy season. Another outlet, Manila's Inquirer, reported that locals are paranoid that dead fish dredged up with backhoes will end up in market stalls. The government has warned shady fishmongers that this will bring criminal charges.

The stench of rotting fish has permeated towns around the body of water, Lake Taal. Officials have dumped lime on the mountains of dead fish to limit the smell. The International Business Times has lots of photos.

2011 is fast becoming the year of sudden fish deaths. Still, this "fishkill," as the Filipino media called it, does not marks the phenomenon's 2011 Asia debut. That honor goes to Vietnam, where 150 tons of tilapia died spontaneously just seven days into the year.

Dead fish have also spontaneously washed ashore in Maryland, North Carolina, California and, in Britain, a slew of crabs perished in unison.

But if you consider this yet another sign of impending apocalypse, you're probably wrong, according to the Associated Press. Apparently, groups of animals die suddenly "every other day."