Thar’s Goldfish in Them Thar Hills 4

4 comments

1. George Smith

   March 23, 2013 at 8:08 pm

   There’s something wrong, er — fishy, about the feature photo. It’s the only one like it on the web and I recall seeing it over a year ago. The rest of the photos of the monster goldfish are much smaller, match the size described in news stories — about 14 inches, 4 and some pounds. Plus there are multiple photos of different people holding different samples at different times, not one guy with a fish that looks like it could topple him over backward. This UC Davis biology flyer lists the big invasive fish, max size 16 inches.
   http://www.tahoescience.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Nonnative-Fish-in-Tahoe-ID.pdf 

    
2. Frank

   March 23, 2013 at 8:21 pm

   I sourced it as well as I could in 15 seconds, but it’s local TV news,  Nothing would surprise me. It could be the freshwater of equivalent of alligators in the sewers, I guess.

   I’ve been fooled before. That’s what divorce lawy–never mind.

   I would find even a 16 inch long goldfish to be rather startling.

   Afterthought: On another look, the one in the feature photo does look rather more like a blow-up doll than a real goldfish, at least any real goldfish I ever saw. (A blow-up goldfish doll–shudder).

    
3. George Smith

   March 23, 2013 at 9:35 pm

   The story is real. 16-inch goldfish -are- startling. The LA Times had a picture of one of the scientists holding a recently caught 14-incher and that was big. It’s the on-the-fly news stations and websites that have put that other one in with the collection. 

    
4. Frank

   March 24, 2013 at 8:39 am

   I know the story is real.  But I share your skepticism about that yard-long goldfish!