Koi fish are not native to Oklahoma, but Will Rogers Gardens will welcome one to the area after a team of OKC fishermen found one floating around town.
A shocking discovery was made after electrofishing at Lake Zoo, where a 14-pound koi was discovered.
Power fishing is the process of creating an electric field around the front of a boat that causes a small shock to the fish and briefly stuns them so that they can be caught. Often, fishery workers weigh the fish and release them back into the water.
Fisheries biologist John Rayfield said they have been electrofishing regularly for the past few years and this is the first time they have caught a koi.
“These are the only koi we have ever seen. Most of the fish we come across are staples, common carp and one goldfish we found at Martin Nature Park,” Rayfield said.
The Koi fish was caught in Zoo Lake on Tuesday, October 15 by the Oklahoma City Fishery. The fish was released into a pond at Will Rogers Gardens.
Rayfield noted that when they found the koi, they took the fish out of the pond and gave it to Will Rogers Garden to put in the garden pond.
“That way it won’t be a place where people will fish it out and people will be able to see it and enjoy it,” he said.
Typically, when they find a rare fish in monitored ponds, Rayfield said he returns it unless it is an invasive or rare species, such as koi. In the past, the group found an Asian carpenter fish that they had to kill to protect the habitat.
They also reported the matter to the state government. This aims to track the spread of non-native species that have the potential to harm the local ecological framework.
This article originally appeared on the Oklahoman: Rare, 14-pound koi fish found in OKC pond relocated