Have you ever wondered what happens to fish when lightning strikes the water they live in? It's a fascinating question – especially if you've ever been caught swimming or sailing during a thunderstorm. When lightning hits a body of water, it's dangerous for anyone on the surface. Swimmers and boaters are at high risk because they're often the tallest objects in open water, making them prime targets for lightning strikes. But what about the fish below?

Surprisingly, most survive lightning strikes with little to no harm. That's because of how electricity behaves in water. During a thunderstorm, clouds build up electrical charges. When the difference between the cloud's negative charge and the water's positive charge becomes too great, the electrical build-up discharges violently as lightning. However: rather than penetrating deeply into a body of water, the electrical energy from a lightning strike spreads out across the surface. The ions in water make it a good conductor, and that helps disperse the current horizontally. Fish swimming even a little below the surface are therefore generally safe. Only those further up – especially directly beneath the strike – are at risk of being injured or killed. But for the vast majority of aquatic life, even the most intense thunderstorms don't pose a major threat.