from the golden-opportunity-to-scale-a-fishy-problem dept.
Giant goldfish problem in US lake prompts warning to pet owners:
A city in the US state of Minnesota has urged residents not to release their unwanted pet fish into the wild after finding huge goldfish in a lake.
[...] A goldfish kept in a home aquarium typically grows to about 2in (5.1cm) in length.
But once they are established in public waters, wildlife officials say, goldfish can grow far larger and be difficult to remove - reproducing rapidly and dominating native species.
In its warning, the city of Burnsville advised pet owners to "please consider other options for finding them a new home".
Wildlife officials have been dealing with a similar problem in nearby Carver County, where 50,000 goldfish were removed from a creek in October last year.
The removal was part of a three-year plan to study and manage the species, which have caused problems across the US.
[...] Large goldfish have been found in the UK's wild waters as well. In 2010, a British teenager pulled a 5lb (2.2kg), 16in fish from a lake in Dorset.
Wikipedia entry for goldfish.
(Score: 3, Funny) by amamandaa on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:45PM (7 children)
Is it alright to volunteer to adopt pan sized fish? If I don't like them, Miss Kitty will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:49PM (2 children)
Is mercury a problem with gold fish?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:49PM
Usually not, but if Saturn is retrograde and Mars is in the third house, you should wait 'til the full moon before you eat it.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 28 2021, @03:52PM
Goldfish are carp, and they are known to bioaccumulate mercury at low/medium levels.
However, if it lived some of its life in captivity before being released it would likely have lower concentrations than its wild friends because people don't fill their fishbowls with polluted water and contaminated fishfood.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:16PM
pan fried or off the grill?
Let's see ol' frat boy swallow one of these!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:17PM (1 child)
go primitive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8STafQifb8 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:52PM
That's "primitive" alright. The "knife" sticking up in the air looks scary as heck. If I bring my own kitchen knives will it still qualify as "primitive"?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:33AM
You won't like them. Goldfish are just carp. They feed by sucking up mud and straining out whatever's edible. Scum-sucking bottom-feeders that taste like shit.
Every recipe for them starts with "add huge quantities of spices/sauces/salt/etc to cover the taste."
(Score: 3, Funny) by jimtheowl on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:49PM (7 children)
Problem solved 8).
(Score: 4, Funny) by Tork on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:59PM (4 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:31PM (3 children)
jimtheowl already suggested piranha - do the fishermen and worms want to be armed, or armored?
(Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:44PM
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:16PM (1 child)
Dyne-o-mite, outta sight, fish for dinner to-nite.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:33PM
Good Times(TM)!
* Jimmie Walker sent me here.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:21PM (1 child)
This idea has worked so well with zebra mussels, asian carp, gobi, and kudzu. Yes, please, lets do that again.
(Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Thursday July 29 2021, @04:40PM
I was obviously not serious but in restrospect, I am glad that someone explicitely points out that it is a bad idea.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:25PM (1 child)
New York sewers are full of albino shit-eating alligators because there was once a fad for buying cute baby alligators, but theur owners got tired of them when they grew older and less cute. Same thing often happens there with pickaninnies.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:47PM
That urban legend is more legend than anything. Gator sightings seem to have peaked in the 1930's, with a few pretty big ones captured.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/nyregion/alligators-sewers-new-york.html [nytimes.com]
Yeah, people abandon their pets, but the pets don't survive very long in New York's cold climate.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:47PM (2 children)
Consider:
D = number of new gold fish added due to folks dumping out their pets.
R = number of new added due to existing fish in place reproducing.
If dumping fish is a real issue, then D >> R
but if this is true, then the fish aren't don't have much of a reproduction rate, so will eventually die out.
Seems more likely that R >> D and this request will not help?
If so, what is it's point, aside from feel good?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday July 28 2021, @03:39AM
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 28 2021, @03:54PM
If you can keep the next guy from tossing a second goldfish in there then you can keep that reproduction rate at zero.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:28PM (2 children)
If I caught a 5 lb. goldfish, and it wasn't legal to release it back I'd do my best to keep it alive, build a pond for it and let it live out whatever lifespan it has left; or at least keep it in an aquarium until a good home could be found. Moving fish is usually risky, but this fellow might be hearty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:43PM
why not just fry it and eat it?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:43AM
You'd be looking after it for a loooooong time. Carp can grow to a meter long and live for 60 years or more. https://trizily.com/how-long-do-carp-live/ [trizily.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @11:43PM
yup yup
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @12:24AM
Relax fishing rules and humans will "volunteer" to solve this.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by looorg on Wednesday July 28 2021, @01:35AM (4 children)
I'm actually a little surprised they'll survive and thrive out in the wild. So what exactly is the problem? Don't they taste good or do the gold fish go on a killing spree and destroy all other fish and wildlife (there can be only one!?)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 28 2021, @02:59AM (2 children)
Gotta remember that goldfish are "wild" in their natural habitat, in east Asia. In fact, aside from a few hybrids, all aquarium fish came from the wild. It is a member of the carp family, and we do have native carp species in most, or all, American waterways. It isn't a major leap for them to adapt to American waters. Maybe some fail to adapt, but enough succeeded to become a problem. Also, with over 100 different varieties, it's possible that some of those fail, while other varieties are more hardy.
You might expect that they don't do well in colder waters - but I've seen them frozen solid in a pond in Maine. When the water thaws, the fish thaw, and go on about their business.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Carassius_auratus/ [animaldiversity.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:17AM (1 child)
Wow, so the fishies have perfected cryonics and us meatbags haven't!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @06:49AM
Fishes are cold-blooded, for one thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:54PM
If they're an invasive species and they survive they survive by consuming limited resources that other species would otherwise consume. So they are going to have an impact on those other species.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday July 28 2021, @03:45PM
Even a neighbor's cat might like an unwanted goldfish.
Aren't goldfish often sent to a better cleaner wonderful place by flushing them?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.