Football-sized goldfish found in Burnsville [MN] lake, prompting plea not to dump pets

Star Tribune ^ | JULY 12, 2021 | Erin Adler

[BenLurkin]

Burnsville officials found 10 fish, some a foot long, in Keller Lake earlier this month while surveying the fish population as part of a water quality project. On Monday, a second trip yielded 18 more fish, some 18 inches long and estimated to weigh about 4 pounds.

The proliferation of the bright orange fish, which don't naturally live in Minnesota waters, is a problem that's plagued communities around the metro as pet owners seeking a humane next chapter for their pets — which hail from east Asia and are a smaller cousin of the common carp — end up adding an invasive creature to their local waterways. It is illegal in Minnesota to release goldfish into waterways.

Goldfish, which reproduce rapidly and have few natural predators, im­pair wa­ter qual­i­ty by feed­ing along lake floors, dis­rupt­ing plants and stir­ring up sed­i­ment, which in turn re­leas­es phosphorus into the wa­ter, en­cour­ag­ing al­gae growth. The fish also com­pete with na­tive spe­cies for food.

[Don Corleone]

Open borders, open beaches?

[knarf]

[FLNittany]

How it all starts...

[eastforker]

Goldfish, which reproduce rapidly and have few natural predators

What a bunch of bull $hit. They make damn good catfish and bass bait. We use them all the time down here in the south for that.

[Red Badger]

HOLY CARP!........................

[VastRWCon]

Fish Lives Matter

[Red Badger]

Don't they get soggy?....How do you keep them on the hook?.................

[major_gaff]

Yep...a number of years ago my Grandmother loaded her back yard pond with gold fish and
the green and blue herons had it completely cleaned out in less than a week.

[blackdog]

Muskies, tiger muskies, and pike, tear them to pieces. Jeeze.

[central_va]

Trump fish!!!

[pepsi_junkie]

Goldfish, which reproduce rapidly and have few natural predators, im­pair wa­ter qual­i­ty by feed­ing along lake floors, dis­rupt­ing plants and stir­ring up sed­i­ment, which in turn re­leas­es phosphorus into the wa­ter, en­cour­ag­ing al­gae growth. The fish also com­pete with na­tive spe­cies for food.

How do they like the Minnesota winter? Since they feed on the lake floor do they just shrug off the freezing temps?

[alternatives?]

Don’t forget the turtles.

[Joe 6-pack]

I had a friend in elementary school that caught a big, really big, blue gill. He brought it home and put it in an aquarium. After school we’d go to the 5 & 10, buy goldfish and feed them to it. It would just about swallow them whole.

[Kevmo]

I’m thinking they would taste good. Butter, salt, pepper, lemon juice.

[wildcard_redneck]

When it comes to the migration of species there is no stopping it now with thr current levels of global trade and travel. it’s more of a government jobs program than anything.

[Rurudyne]

Exactly.

Fish don’t look at a smaller fish and wonder if it looks like fish they’re used to eating or not.

[wildcard_redneck]

"What a bunch of bull $hit. They make damn good catfish and bass bait. We use them all the time down here in the south for that.

You are right. There is a reason fishing lures are often brightly colored, it attracts fish. I wish environmentalists would "follow the science". Very few goldfish survive to that size in the wild because of predation.

[FES0844]

Does it taste good????

[heavy metal]

at least it was identifiable when caught...

i remember when the first snakehead fish was caught in a maryland pond and the guy that caught it released it because he didn’t recognize it...

dnr tried shocking the water and finally ended up draining the pond to eradicate it...