Reminder That’s Illegal In Illinois To Dump Goldfish In The Lake

A town in Minnesota is reminding people not to dump their goldfish into ponds and lakes.

They provided some pictures of the massive goldfish that are, in their words, mucking up the bottom sediments and uprooting plants.

It's illegal in Minnesota and pretty much every other state in the country, especially in this region that is still being impacted by the Asian carp.

Goldfish are also in the carp family and are similarly invasive, it's actually the second sentence in the Wikipedia entry. 

I knew that a lot of fish could grow to the size of their container but never really thought about what would happen when the container was basically infinite. Turns out you get massive goldfish.

I'm honestly very surprised they live so long in a lake. I killed no more than a dozen goldfish in the summer of 1989 alone and I was TRYING to keep them alive. Maybe the 15-year-old working at Union Hall didn't have the best advice. I'm not sure.

I'm also curious who exactly is releasing all these goldfish into natural waterways to cause ecological damage. I know there are plenty of people who get tired of pets and want to get rid of them. I don't think they're good people, but they're out there. If you're tired of having a goldfish and don't want to flush it, you're already going through the whole process of taking it somewhere. Just take it to a pet shop. Tell them you're moving. They'll take a free fish I'm assuming.

This has also made me wonder if there are any schools of massive goldfish in Pierce Lake in Rock Cut State Park. Has anyone seen one? I'm not much of a fisherman, but if you told me I could catch goldfish, I might give it a try for a few hours.

In short. Stop dumping your unwanted fish into lakes. Everyone thanks you.