What would you do if you have a goldfish -those who abound in fish tanks in homes, but you have to get rid of it?
Do you wash it up in the bathroom? Do you through it in a pond, river or nearby swamp? If that’s what you’re thinking, stop! and read this note first, since you could create a monster.
In recent years, these friendly animals known as goldfish have become a real problem for local species of swamps, lakes and rivers from all over the world.
And it is that in the wild these fish can reach the size of a football and weighing up to 1.9 kg.
If the size is not enough, the problem with these invasive species is that they are a threat to local ecosystems.
Part by part
First, these species from China are carnivorous. They feed on eggs laid local fish, which in turn feed on mosquito larvae in the water (thus they are natural insecticides).
In addition, to look for food they use a technique that involves shaking the ground.
Which brings us to the second problem; to lift the mud at the bottom, makes buried float before nutrients and activate an excessive growth of algae.
But this is not all. According to Dr. Stephen Beatty, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, this type of carp fish can bring unknown diseases to the native fish population.
“We know that a disease has been introduced and that the most likely come from the goldfish,” Beatty told the ABC Australia.
Long distance
In a recent study in which they followed up to 15 goldfish for a year, the expert was able to determine how these species migrate (at least in Australia).
“We discovered that these fish can migrate channels (which are left by their owners) to the river and from there to the system bogs where they lay eggs,” he said.
This means that in one year they can cover a distance of over 230 kilometers.
“It’s so amazing how big that we are finding (in the wild) as the amount we’re seeing,” he recently told Canada’s CBC Kate Wilson, coordinator of invasive aquatic species in Alberta chain.
Such is the amount of gold fish found in this Canadian region that local government has an awareness campaign so that people do not leave these pets in lakes and rivers.
“They are breeding in the wild. They are becoming very large and are surviving winters well north,” Wilson added.
Source: BBC
