Why These Monster Goldfish Were Just Found in a Minnesota Lake
No, that isn't a photoshopped picture-- authorities really DID find these incredibly huge goldfish swimming in a Minnesota lake last week.
As any animal lover will tell you, it's never a good idea to abandon a family pet you no longer want, right? Even if it's a goldfish. Because when you release a 'harmless' goldfish into our 10,000 lakes here in Minnesota, they can turn into these monster-size goldfish that the city of Burnsville just found swimming in a local lake.
Goldfish DO belong in Minnesota-- when they're in your tank or fishbowl. Where they don't belong, though, is in any of our natural bodies of water here in the North Star State. But that's what happened in one Minnesota lake, and it's caused the county to take action to get rid of them.
If you're like me, it's strange to think of the common goldfish as an invasive species, but according to Carver County, Minnesota, that's exactly what they are. And when they're left alone in our Minnesota waters, they have few natural predators and can grow tremendously.
Crews in Carver County worked on a project to remove thousands of goldfish from Grace Chain of Lakes (in the southwest metro, about an hour and a half northwest of Rochester) last November. Those were slightly larger than your usual goldfish, but none were close to these monster goldfish that the city of Burnsville just found in Keller Lake last week.
They issued a plea on their Facebook page to NOT release those cute, little pet goldfish into any lake or stream in Minnesota. Check out those amazing pictures below! (And be glad you don't have to feed THAT goldfish!)
And, speaking of lakes, we know that Minnesota has over 10,000 of them. And while they all aren't dealing with an invasion of goldfish, thankfully, some of them have some tricky names to pronounce-- even for native Minnesotans. Keep scrolling to see how many of these lakes YOU know how to say.
Listen to Curt St. John mornings from 6 to 10 on Quick Country 96.5
and afternoons from 2 to 6 on 103.9 The Doc