Hillsborough is home to an estimated 80 per cent of the nation's tropical fish industry, writes Neil Johnson of Tampa Tribune. According to the news organisation, Miami is the second leading Florida supplier of aquarium fish.
The losses could be larger as more fish farmers report to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and more of their finned crops succumb to the cold.
According to Tampa Tribune, temperatures fell to the high 20s on Thursday and Friday mornings in eastern and southern Hillsborough County, home to most of the farms. At some farms, the freeze wiped out more than half of the brood of tropical fish.
Connor Farms Tropical Fish in Plant City reported an 85 percent loss worth $1.25 million. It was the largest single farm loss reported to the agriculture department from Hillsborough.
Hillsborough Fish Farms in Deep Freeze Disaster
HIILSBOROUGH, US - The back-to-back blasts of cold last week hit Hillsborough County's tropical fish farmers hard, costing them more than $1.7 million in dead aquarium fish and snails, according to preliminary reports.
