How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

by Sabrina Imbler

Of course, it’s not their fault; goldfish would never have gotten into the river if we hadn’t thought of them as disposable. Wild goldfish have been found in every state but Alaska, and when they are unleashed in a water body, they ruin whatever balance life might have found before. Their riotous presence drives out native species. Goldfish love to dig, and they will uproot everything growing at the bottom of a lake in search of something to eat. When they devour opaque clouds of cyanobacteria, their intestines foment the bacteria’s growth, making them incubators of algal blooms. They may spawn as early as a year old, releasing hundreds of sticky eggs that cling to rocks and plants and anything that will hold them.