Seemingly every winter we cover this issue: people dumping their pet fish into local bodies of water. While the intent of these introductions is rarely malicious, the results of them can be detrimental to native fish and fisheries as a whole. Recently we had two big new stories scroll down our Facebook News Feeds, one about a huge goldfish that was pulled out of Lake Ontario, and the other from Minnesota where local authorities pulled over 5,000 pounds of Goldfish from their lakes. Both stories show just how well goldfish and carp as a species can adapt to new waters and take over in a very short time.
You can read both stories out, below:
Huge Goldfish Pulled from Lake Ontario

5,000 Pounds of Goldfish Taken Out of Minnesota Lakes

Officials Remove 5,000 Pounds of Goldfish from Minnesota Lakes