# IN - Dumped goldfish blamed for killing bass



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Dumped goldfish blamed for killing bass in Ind. 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-goldfish06.html

Goldfish -- the kind given as prizes at county fairs and elsewhere -- are thriving and killing off game fish such as bass in a lake near Gary.

Bob Robertson, a biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the agency faced a similar problem 15 years ago and conducted a controlled kill-off to rid Spectacle Lake of the unwanted goldfish. 

Somehow, he said, the fish were reintroduced to the lake about 15 miles southeast of Gary, probably by people who didn't want to keep them as pets but did not want to flush them away, either. "It only takes two," said Robertson said. 

Now, the goldfish make up about 90 percent of the lake's fish population, said Walt Breitinger, president of the Chain of Lakes Watershed Group. 

The alien fish swim in and kick up the mud and destroy bass nests in the ground. "They can be quite destructive," said Jonathan Lowrie, a marine biologist and California-based consultant. "They're considered an invasive species." 

Lowrie said the goldfish also produce large amounts of mucus and can reduce oxygen to a level that can make bass sick.


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