Aquarian Invasive Species In Canada

 The Round Goby The Round Goby is a prominent invasive species swimming around Canada’s freshwater lakes, since 1990 gobies have spread competing against native bottom feeders for food and affecting sport fish by eating native fishes eggs. Gobies are a huge problem as they eat basically everything, including Zebra mussels! But just as good as it may seem, there’s been research linking a strain of botulism type-E to gobies as after eating Zebra Mussels the toxin is created and birds of prey and predator fish die out due to this botulism strain.  CC:  https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Round_goby.jpg Furthermore here’s a short minute long video from Clevelands Aquarium of those up close, and closed captioned information about the Round Goby:  https://youtu.be/tEVUGfFw0Z4?si=IVI94mOc_m480hDr

Zebra Mussels Zebra mussels are a form of mussels that come from the Dreissenidae, native to the Black Sea these mussels attach themselves on cargo ships and boats alike to take them across large bodies of water. Zebra mussels filter out algae from their habitat lessening food supply to native fish and decreasing the quality of its water, also largely known for their sharp shells that cut swimmers feet like razors.  CC: Bob Nichols; U.S. Department Sited :  https://www.invasivespeciescentre.ca/invasive-species/meet-the-species/fish-and-invertebrates/zebra-and-quagga-mussels/

 Welcome! This is the first post relating to invasive species themselves, starting off with a well known fish: The Goldfish. Goldfish are common as first pets in households across the world, but unfortunately some families flush them away before the fish has actually passed away.  Goldfish can be more harmful to ecosystems than you might think, the reason they are so harmful is the way they feel, they come from the carp/minnow family and actually make the waters their in less susceptible to light and in turn decreasing the sunlight native plants have and need to survive. On top of that they also target fish eggs, larvae and native plants which escalates how bad they are for our environment. Goldfish were brought from Asia and introduced as early as the 1600’s! As of today Goldfish are currently all across Canadian waters and even in Ontario. Goldfish can grow to massive sizes compared to their household brothers, apparently they can get as big as a football. This is important ...

 Hello! Welcome to my blog, here I will be posting and informing readers of the different invasive species in Canada (and even some native fish which might closely resemble an invasive one). The goal is to give people an idea of what makes a something invasive, specifically in the water and then showing how they might have got here and ways that they’re being fought against. Invasive species have always been a major interest for me and keeping the native fish’s ecosystem healthy is utmost important. I’ll be posting pictures of the fish, where they affect Canada, how they do it, and allowing comments to ask questions and create a discussion. Thank you for reading this far and i’ll be posting more shortly! -Stefan A