June 25, 2015 — Have you ever seen a goldfish in the wild? Well, they exist, and they’re huge.

It sounds like a sci-fi fantasy, but its real: Goldfish are growing to gigantic proportions in Canada after being dumped by bored owners.

The Alberta government is trying to stop Canadians from throwing out their fish into ponds, according to The Washington Post. CBC News summed up the affects pretty eloquently: “Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying like bunnies.”

In one case, 40 of the domestic fish were pulled from a pond.

“That’s really scary because it means they’re reproducing in the wild,” said Kate Wilson, aquatic invasive species coordinator at Alberta Environment and Parks. “They are getting quite large and they are surviving the winters that far north.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe