right now Washington State is fighting
off an invasion and who's the culprit
it's goldfish that's right
goldfish thousands of goldfish have
infested West Medical Lake and are now
crowding out the native fish population
so how did this happen the Department of
Fish and Wildlife thinks that a few
irresponsible pet owners are to blame
and while the goldfish they originally
bought might have just cost the owners a
few dollars this mess is gonna cost the
state an estimated a hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to try and remove these
feral fish and this isn't the only place
that this is happening goldfish are
invading lakes and streams worldwide and
it's all our fault
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if you think you're doing the goldfish a
favor by releasing it back into the wild
you're not instead you're setting the
stage for an ecological disaster which
could threaten hundreds of other species
as it turns out goldfish are one of the
world's worst invasive species they were
first selectively bred in China 2,000
years ago for food but by the 14th
century goldfish had been promoted from
our food to our entertainment it wasn't
long before pet owners helped them
spread across the world eventually
reaching North America by the 19th
century they may look small and cute in
your tank at home but in the wild it's a
completely different story given enough
time and resources these little orange
monsters will grow into Giants reaching
as much as four pounds about the size of
an American football these big fish are
also big eaters they feed on plants
insects crustaceans and other fish but
it's not just that they consume other
fishes food their voracious feeding time
actually kicks up mud and sediment which
can lead to harmful algae blooms and
chokes the rest of the ecosystem and if
that's not enough they also introduce
foreign parasites and diseases that
wreak havoc on delicately balanced
ecosystems wherever they go and they
aren't content just to stay in one place
goldfish are a rapidly reproducing fish
and will migrate across multiple bodies
of water case in point
when a few were dumped into a local
Australian River in the early 2000s they
eventually migrated to the vast river
where there's still a major problem
today there are similar accounts of
goldfish invasions in London Alberta
Canada and Lake Tahoe Nevada in fact
invasive fish species accounted for over
half the total fish population in Lake
Tahoe Basin besides causing fiscal and
environmental disasters there are other
reasons you should keep that goldfish in
its tank for starters goldfish are
smarter than you think which means you
can teach them tricks like this and they
can tell the difference between
Stravinski and bok
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can you do that
so consider the wildlife and think twice
before tossing that goldfish away
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you
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