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Adolph Anderson was aimlessly dipping an empty fishhook into Fountain Lake at Byrd Park on Wednesday afternoon when a man excitedly pointed out a massive carp swimming nearby.

Anderson politely informed the man that he had no interest in fishing at Fountain Lake after what he had just seen. The lake was littered with about 200 dead fish.

“Great doggy!” said Edwin Ruffin, another visitor to the lake on Wednesday, after he saw several dozen dead fish. “That’s gross. Wow. You can even smell that odor now. … Somebody needs to look into this.”

Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency learned about the fish kill Wednesday afternoon and sent a biologist to check.

The biologist found poor water quality in the lake, including an abundance of algae that might have proliferated during recent warm days, Hayden said.

Large amounts of thick, green algae had accumulated near the edges of the lake, as well as what appeared to be pollen.

About 200 bluegills died, Hayden said.