TOLEDO, OH — In your fishbowl at home, goldfish are a cute pet. But in the lake down the road, they can become real troublemakers.
Once established in the wild, the aquarium pet can grow large, reproduce and help turn shallow freshwater ecosystems murkier and less hospitable to native life, according to a new University of Toledo-led study.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, found that goldfish can trigger a rapid shift in lake ecosystems, especially in nutrient-rich waters where the fish stir up sediment while foraging, reducing water clarity and disrupting the food web…