Monster-Sized Goldfish Were Found In An Ontario Harbour & It's A Big Problem (PHOTOS)
If you've ever released your pet goldfish into the wild, it could be the size of a soccer ball by now.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada posted photos of a pair of monster-sized goldfish to Facebook on November 30 that were found in Hamilton's Harbour.
The orange goldfish depicted in the photos take two hands to hold and look about ten times the size of a regular goldfish, with some scales looking to be almost as big as a fingerprint.
The government department is studying how the goldfish are impacting waters by tracking them with "acoustic tags," according to the Facebook post.
The goldfish, which aren't naturally found there, have been "breeding in the Harbour, targeting key spawning sites for native species like Northern Pike," which is not great news for the other native critters.
According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, large groups of the fish "can destroy aquatic habitats by tearing up aquatic plants for food and clouding the waters, which means less sunlight and less food for our native species."
Goldfish also have the ability to "thrive on toxic blue-green algae" and even help its production.
Blue-green algae blooms can be toxic and can severely harm humans and animals, so it's not something anybody wants an abundance of in their waters.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada says most goldfish end up in Canada's water from being released in "local entry points like stormwater ponds, which is why it's so important to never release any pets into the wild."
