If you’ve been around the Great Lake in Salt Lake City lately, then you may have noticed a surprising number of dead fish on the ground. These are usually pretty weathered and look like they’ve been deceased for quite some time. Now, you may think there’s nothing unusual about seeing fish around a lake, but it turns out that this lake doesn’t have any natural fish due to its high levels of salt water.

Although this may seem like something out of a horror film, it’s actually nothing to worry about. In fact, older residents may know exactly why this happens from past experience. In short, the rivers that flow into the lake bring fish from the sea. At this point, the fish then realize that the water has changed quite suddenly, and before they can get back to the rivers, they then die from salt poisoning.

In the image above, a dog sniffs the carcass of a dead fish.

If you think about it logically, this is where the city’s name ‘Salt Lake City’ actually comes from. More specifically, this lake has three main rivers that lead to it – and many of these fish will follow the river trail in the quest of getting food.

Now, if you’re still after a creepy explanation then you may want to talk about the dead birds found by the lake recently. Honestly, we don’t know what that’s all about but you can’t say the city’s wildlife isn’t interesting.