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Thousands of goldfish were spotted in March in Teller Lake # 5 off Arapahoe Road in Boulder , Colorado , and life scientist are concern . Here ’s a look at the Pisces - filled lake . [ take the full story on the exotic fish dumped into the lake ]
Colorado Lake
Just a handful of the koi goldfish were likely dumped into the Colorado lake ( shown here ) a few year ago . The Pisces the Fishes are not native to the lake and do n’t come about of course anywhere in North America , according to fish biologist Ben Swigle with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
Young ones
ground on the size of the Pisces the Fishes and past experience , Swigle suspects they are about 3 years old , meaning someone deck their undesirable aquarium pets into the lake about three yr ago . He thinks they probably came from just a handful of koi discharge into Teller Lake . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
Worrisome find
alien species may be all right for aquarium - fish enthusiast but when they get released into natural waterways they can make for mayhem . For case , if these koi goldfish were to make it downstream and explode in numbers there , they could supplant native fish species there . Downstream , some three to four Pisces species are consider threatened or " coinage of business organisation , " Swigle said . They include the brassy minnow , common mouse and stone cat Pisces . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
thirsty fish
The koi goldfish has at least one thing in common with those downstream fish . They both care to eat plankton and small worm . That entail the goldfish would compete with aboriginal Pisces , some of which have been there since the Edwin Herbert Land was settled , for food for thought . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
Fighting for space
In addition to competing for foraging resource , the goldfish could compete with native Pisces for blank space , in particular breed habitat , Swigle said . Here , another look at the horde of goldfish found in Teller Lake # 5 . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
Goldfish removal
Swigle said there are three options for removing the goldfish from Teller Lake # 5 . These include : electrofishing , which involves stunning the fish so as to physically polish off them from the lake ; killing the Pisces with rotenone , a chemical that interferes with external respiration ; and debilitate the lake and leaving it dormant . If the fish are physically take away , they could be feed to injured bald-pated eagles , ospreys and hawk at a raptor center , Swigle said . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
More goldfish
Here , a close - up look at the young fish in Teller Lake . TheAmerican Veterinary Medical Associationoffers humane way of getting disembarrass of pets such as goldfish . ( Photo Credit : Colorado Parks and Wildlife )
