Fisherman shares eerie footage of dozens of colorful fish washed up on beach: 'Broke my heart...'

A resident of the Florida Keys shared heartbreaking footage after a recent cold front devastated the marine wildlife population in his area.

Instagram creator Conner (@fishingwithconner) frequently shares videos of the vibrant, living fish and other sea life in his area of the tropics. 

However, this time, he had much sadder news.

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A post shared by Conner (@fishingwithconner)

"I knew it wasn't going to be good, but I did not expect this," says Conner in the video. "Tonight, I came to my local beach after a massive cold front, and I want to document just how dangerous these cold water temperatures are for tropical fish."

The video shows a wide array of fish simply lying in the shallow water on the beach, tangled in seaweed. His finds include a juvenile stingray — which "broke my heart," according to Conner — and a rainbow parrotfish.

"Once the water gets to a certain temperature, these fish lose complete control of their body, which causes them to float to the surface and oftentimes right on the shore," said Conner. 

As he points out, losing the parrotfish in particular is a heavy blow.

"These fish are so important to the health of our coral reefs, and it was devastating to see one washed ashore like this," he says.

It's not just fish that were affected by the heavy weather, either. The cold front also came with wind and rough waves that stirred up the water along the shallow bottom. Conner noted how he also found a sea sponge that was lost because of the intense waves and wind. 

While Conner also pointed out that the weather was warming up the next morning and there were many live sea creatures to be found, the death toll from this unexpected cold snap in a warm region was a chilling reminder of the effects of the changing climate.

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