Monster Goldfish Found in Lake Tahoe

Aquarium pets are showing up in some unlikely places, and that’s bad news for native species


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  1. 1. bjnicholls 05:15 PM 2/21/13

    It's a carp. And it's not even a very large carp.

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  2. 2. meaboutthis 05:32 PM 2/21/13

    ...never feed him too much, never more than a spot, or something may happen, you never know what. Go Otto!!!

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  3. 3. singing flea 05:42 PM 2/21/13

    I lived in the Tahoe basin for a few years and tried fishing quite often. As few fish as I caught I would have been happy to catch a goldfish that big. The real threat to Tahoe is the humans who have invaded the entire basin, not their gold fish.

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  4. 4. FlowerChild in reply to bjnicholls 07:31 PM 2/21/13

    No actually it is NOT a carp. Carp have flat bottoms, goldfish have more rounded bottoms. This is in fact, a goldfish and anyone involved in aquarium keeping knows they can get rather large. Goldfish yes, carp No.

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  5. 5. mbdsta 08:49 PM 2/21/13

    "But even a small creature can have a big impact, if there are enough of them."


    Sounds like something Gandalf would tell Frodo...

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  6. 6. ccchhhrrriiisss 10:07 PM 2/21/13

    It does look like a goldfish. However, I thought that goldfish begin to "thicken" once they hit about six to eight inches and resemble koi. Regardless, it is an interesting find. I am surprised that such a fish could withstand the cold temperatures at Lake Tahoe. I hope that they can quickly eradicate such an invasive species.

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  7. 7. em_allways_right 01:13 AM 2/22/13

    Gold fish are not tropical and can live in colder water.

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  8. 8. Ultradip 11:44 AM 2/22/13

    But what do they taste like? :-D

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  9. 9. MarcusAurelius 03:50 PM 2/22/13

    Carp.

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  10. 10. Cosmoknot 10:30 PM 2/22/13

    You have to cook carp over a garbage can fire to really do it proper.

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  11. 11. Poppa beer 04:11 AM 2/23/13

    any carp that I have tried have always been very bland and need loads of salt.
    There are heaps of tastier fish to be found.

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  12. 12. gmperkins 11:27 AM 2/23/13

    Goldfish poop so much that perhaps we can harness them as our next biofuel ;)

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  13. 13. edprochak 09:14 AM 2/25/13

    this is something that has been going on for a long time. Back in the late '60s in a city park in Youngstown, they drained the ice skating pond to make some repairs to the dam. There was a goldfish about the same size (as pictured in the article) in that pond. I've never dumped live fish. Right now I do not have my aquarium running, but when I start it again, I plan on getting local, native fish.

    If you want to see exotic fish, visit your local Aquarium. Enjoy.

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  14. 14. Happy Hal 01:18 AM 2/26/13

    I have seen larger goldfish, in the reflecting pool, in the Scarborough, ON Civic Centre

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  15. 15. ait10101 03:09 AM 2/26/13

    In the late 60s I used to like to warch the huge goldfish in the Charles River from Harvard Bridge. They tended to turn white as they got bigger. Then there are the Charles River whitefish, but we don't talk much about them in polite company.

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