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.

[Clutch Martin]

There was a guy in Chesterfield County last week got a two and a half pounder goldfish but it was recorded by an archery entity, and although the article didn’t really say I’m pretty sure he took it with an arrow at night.

[Red Badger]

It’s bony......................

[FES0844]

I’ll pass!

[ETCM]

They have established a population in Lake Tahoe too. I had no idea they could live there until I saw them.

[Hatteras]

Well, he wouldn’t fit down the toilet so...

[Scrambler Bob]

Don’t dump your pets.

So if I dump my Poodle, he will grow to the size of a Hippo?

[taterjay]

‘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.’

They must be the ones creating so called climate change. Better tell Greta.

[ifinnegan]

I wonder how they taste.

[pnut22]

They are carp in a better outfit. There is a reason why carp is an anagram of crap.

[Rio]

Could be

[bert]

To the ignorati in Minnesota

Catch em. Eat em

[HeadOn]

Noooooo!!!! Carp are terrible. If you catch one, leave it on the bank...

[KosmicKitty]

Don’t lave them. Take them home and use them as fertilizer for your garden.

[353FMG]

Tastes like cornish hens.

[oldasrocks]

Goldfish are colored carp. They grow to the size of container they are in. They will reproduce other carp and ruin a pond or lake.

[RckyRaCoCo]

LOL

[bert]

Yes, but this is in Minnesota......

[ro_dreaming]

Imagine what an alligator gar would do to it...

[Rockingham]

Similarly, an otter came up from our lake and cleaned out a neighbor’s koi pond. That fare was no doubt an improvement on the cat food the otters normally enjoyed.