In Japan, it's raining tadpoles

... and fish and frogs. Downpours that deposit dead creatures from Hiroshima to Iwate bewilder meteorologists

Japan is no stranger to heavy downpours during the early summer rainy season.

But in recent days the proverbial "cats and dogs" have been joined by tadpoles, fish and the occasional frog.

Meteorologists admit they are bewildered by a spate of incidents in which the creatures appear to have fallen from the sky. People around the country have reported witnessing the phenomenon since the first sightings of stranded tadpoles were made in Ishikawa prefecture last week.

People living as far apart as Hiroshima in the south-west and Iwate in the north-east say they have stumbled on the dead creatures near their homes, in fields, school grounds, and on car roofs and windscreens.

In Ishikawa prefecture, on the Japan Sea coast, a resident found 13 crucian carp on and around his truck, each about 3cm long.

One popular theory is that the creatures were sucked up by waterspouts but meteorologists say no strong winds have been reported in the areas where tadpoles were found. One expert said gusts too weak to be picked up by observatories might have sucked up small quantities of water, along with a few unfortunate tadpoles. Ornithologists said it was too early too rule out their feathered friends.

Kimimasa Tokikuni, head of the Ishikawa branch of the Japanese Society for the Preservation of Birds, told the Yomiuri Shimbun that bigger birds, such as herons and black-tailed gulls, might have dropped the tadpoles after being disturbed in mid-flight.

But the startled bird theory fails to answer a simple question: why haven't the "flying" tadpoles been noticed before?

via In Japan, it's raining tadpoles | World news | guardian.co.uk.