Environmental studies Goldfish

Project description
Write a response to this students short essay. What can you ad to the topic? Use at least one

source.

Invasive species of fish are a really danger to the ecosystem and to native fish that live in a water

way. An invasive species is a fish that is not native to a habitat. These fish can cause damage to the

aquatic ecosystem and can even threaten native species of fish. There are many different species

here in the United States that are invasive, and most are where they are today due to the fish

trade. Invasive species are brought over as pet and sold in stores to families to have in their

homes. This is great until a family cannot take care of the fish anymore and decide to release them

in to a local lake. One of these species of fish is (carassius auratus) or more commonly known as the

goldfish (carassius auratus).

The Goldfish (carassius auratus) is a part of the carp family and has been kept as a pet in china

since 960 AD and only grew to about 12 to 22 cm long (Lyons, 2012). However more recently in Lake

Tahoe in California the world record for largest goldfish was recorded in 2003 at 47.498 cm from

snout to tail-fin (Heck, 2013). Lake Tahoe has been effected by global warming. Warming of the

waters has made it a better environment for invasive species to flourish the lake. In Australia in the

Vasse River goldfish (carassius auratus) have taken over most of the river. Goldfish (carassius

auratus) have been breeding in the more stagnate waters that are rich in algae. This area is down

by the dam and goldfish (carassius auratus) have been growing to lengths of 40cm (Morgan &

Beatty, 2005). Goldfish (carassius auratus) have become so successful at breeding in the Vasse River

that when samples are taken of fish in the river 60% are goldfish (carassius auratus), (Morgan &

Beatty, 2005). The goldfish (carassius auratus) was introduced to the Vesse River by farmers that

kept them as pets in ponds. The farmer’s ponds were flooded and the goldfish (carassius auratus)

made their ways from the ponds to the rivers and waterways along the west coast of Australia

(Morgan & Beatty, 2005). The spread of the goldfish (carassius auratus) into the Vesse River

threaten the native mud minnow (galaxislla munda which is a rare fish and was discovered during

the study of the goldfish (carassius auratus). The goldfish (carassius auratus) problem in Australia is

a serious issue the fish has already established it’s self in the ecosystem. This is a serious issue

because the goldfish (carassius auratus) preys on native fish eggs lowers the numbers of native fish

(Morgan & Beatty, 2005). Goldfish (carassius auratus) also deplete the biomass of the plants in the

river which destroys key nutrients that prevent algae blooms (Morgan & Beatty, 2005). It is hard to

believe that a simple pet and a member of the carp family (Cyprinidae) could cause such damage to

the ecosystem. There is no clear way to take care of the issue of the invasion of the goldfish along

Australia western coast, but adding another predatory species would probably the wrong thing to

do.

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