A goldfish (illustration).
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WIDMANN / TPH / SIPA
Employees of the Parks and Recreation Department of South Carolina (United States) were surprised to discover a goldfish with an extraordinary size in a lake.
The animal evolving in the murky waters of the Oak Grove water body weighs more than 4 kg and measures 38 centimeters long, reports CNN.
This species is not naturally present in the region.
For comparison, the weight of domestic goldfish hovers between 90 and 270 grams, says
National Geographic.
The longest individual of the species, honored by The Guinness Book of World Records after being discovered in the Netherlands in 2003, measured 47.4 centimeters.
Its weight is not known.
The omnivorous animal must have found copious amounts of food in the nearly three-acre American lake, said Ty Houck, Greenville County's natural and historic resource manager.
"This giant fish jumped out of the water"
The incredible encounter with the immense poison took place during an operation to test the water quality and the state of the lake's ecosystem.
Officials used electrofishing, sending out a mild, harmless electrical current that caused all of the fish to rise to the surface so they could better analyze the water and observe wildlife.
“All of a sudden this giant fish jumped out of the water to find itself in our net and we quickly took a picture while we were examining it,” says Ty Houck.
The snap was uploaded to Facebook on December 7.
The specialist said he did not know how long this goldfish has been living in the lake.
However, he said that no animal of this species had so far been seen in the water.
“We think someone threw their fish in the lake because they didn't want them anymore,” the officer commented.
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