The lack of freshwater inflow mixing with the seawater causes pollutants to concentrate in the estuary and contributes to losses of oysters and white shrimp. Oysters suffer greatly due to their inability to be agile and move or migrate. White shrimp are very sensitive when freshwater inflow is reduced and high salinity levels are present. Some fish may suffer blindness or develop body lesions due to the high salinity stress. Informational documentaries discussing El Nino and its effects upon weather patterns across the United States are commonplace on television networks.
Enhanced precipitation is predicted for parts of Texas calling for a wet Southwest and Gulf Coast.
This will lead to dilution of salinity levels in the estuary ecosystems if predictions prove to be true. Spawning from El Nino is a chilly phenomenon called La Nina. La Nina can also disrupt weather and is many ways the opposite of El Nino. In 1988 a devastating drought in the central United States and forest fires were rampant in the Southwest as a result of La Nina. If this prediction is correct, and then estuaries will experience a dilution of salinity during the El Nino phase and an increase in salinity during the La Nina, which will stress the estuary ecosystems.