Fishing guides in the Florida Keys began reporting unusual sightings to Ross Boucek last fall. Small bait fish, especially at night, would start spinning in tight circles in the water, seemingly in distress. As the months went by, more reports trickled in to Dr. Boucek, a biologist with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, a nonprofit conservation group. Bigger fish — jacks, snook — were swimming in spirals or upside down in the shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. They held meetings, took samples of the water and fish and tried to figure out what might be causing the fish to behave so strangely.

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Persons: Florida Keys, Ross Boucek, Boucek, snook Organizations: Tarpon Trust Locations: Florida, Gulf of Mexico