Today I heard that there were 4 pound goldfish caught in Lake Tahoe. It is amazing to me to think that Lake Tahoe would have this big goldfish in at first I thought they were Garibaldi’s the state Fish of California but in fact they were not. The goldfish probably ended up in the lake due to the aquarium trade which is not a regulated industry. The professor who is on the radio and talking about the issue with the fish stated that the fish can actually consume nutrients in the lake and upset the balance which after the excrete the nutrients they can actually add to an algae problem at the lake. And the scientist also went on to say that there are efforts to keep Lake Tahoe blue and clear and this goldfish and other bass issues better not indigenous to the lake can create quite a problem. There was also a story about a Japanese Lake where they at actually have bounties on the big mouth bass populations which could be a solution in the lake Tahoe situation. I was interested to hear that the efforts of the scientific community was for prevention.
To learn more of the story, check out the story on NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/22/172713455/aquarium-dumping-linked-to-giant-tahoe-goldfish
Normal sized goldfish!
Amber M. Baylor 