A swarm of fish leapt en masse from a pond, reaching heights of approximately one metre in southern China.

Video filmed at the Yanhua Pond Scenic Area in Chengdu City in Sichuan Province on June 24, shows a staff member boating on the pond to clean up the fallen leaves and dozens of fish leaping out of the water.

The spectacle reportedly lasted around ten minutes.

Liu Xudong, a staff member of the Yanhua Pond Museum, explained the phenomenon on June 26. Since the weather was particularly hot on that day and combined with the possible scare caused by the cleaning activities, this might have prompted the fish to leap out of the water.

Interestingly, it was only the silver carp that jumped, with other species remaining under the surface.

Following the incident, the museum promptly invited professionals to test the water quality of the pond, finding no anomalies.

Guo Chuanbo, a researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, suggested that the hot weather could have induced a stress response in the silver carp. Known for their schooling behaviour, fondness for jumping, and high sensitivity, silver carp are skittish and easily startled.

When the school is affected by weather or environmental factors, the most sensitive fish start to leap out of the water, prompting the rest to follow in a phenomenon akin to the "herd effect". According to Guo, this is a normal response.

The video was provided by local media with permission.

6月24日，四川成都，崇州罨画池景区，成群鱼儿纷纷跃出水面，跃出高度在1米左右，时间持续10分钟，水花四起。不少市民直呼罕见。
6月26日，罨画池博物馆的工作人员刘旭东介绍，当时正好有工作人员划船于湖上，在打扫池塘内掉落的落叶。当天天气较热，加上鱼儿可能受到了惊吓，便跃出了水面。并且，跃出水面的只有白鲢鱼，其它鱼群都没有跃出水面。事情发生以后，罨画池博物馆立即找来了专业人员对池内的水质进行检查，没有发现异常。
中国科学院水生生物研究所研究员郭传波认为，可能因为天气炎热，白鲢产生了应激反应。白鲢具有集群的习性，比较喜欢跳跃，而且具有高敏感性，胆小易受惊吓。当鱼群受天气或者相关环境的影响，刚开始会有几条最敏感的鱼跃出水面，而剩下的鱼受此刺激便纷纷开始跳跃，有点类似于“羊群效应”，属于正常现象。