It’s not quite as badass as the gigantic blind alligators that were rumoured to inhabit New York City‘s sewer system after being flushed down the toilet, but it’s pretty much the same principle: abandoned pet goldfish in WA are growing monstrous in size and terrifying the local wildlife.
Folks who for some reason have found the strain of maintaining a goldfish to be too much to handle are dumping the poor creatures into lakes and rivers and like bulbous, bug-eyed Godzillas, these unwanted pet fish are growing to immense sizes.
Dr Stephen Beatty from Murdoch University has been monitoring species in the Vasse River for 12 years and isn’t happy with the impact these humungo fishazoids are having on the ecosystem:
“Perhaps they were kids’ pets where the family have been moving house and their parents, not wanting to take the aquarium, have dumped them in the local wetlands.“Unfortunately a lot of people don’t understand that wetlands connect up to river systems and introduced fish, once they get in there, can do a lot of damage to native freshwater fish and the aquatic habitat.”
The fish are growing up to 2kg in weight, which may not sound all that monstrous but is a fair accomplishment for an animal that was previously confined to a bowl.
Photo: Murdoch University.
How long before human civilisation is overrun by these gigantic terrifying fish? Not long enough.
Source: ABC.
