AUGUSTA (AP) — A Harpswell woman is taking her fight with state wildlife officials over her right to keep exotic pet fish to the state’s highest court.

Georgette Curran last month lost her bid to ease restrictions on a permit issued by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife that allows her to have no more than 40 koi in an indoor aquarium.

She said she wants to move them to an outdoor pond to give them a less crowded, less stressful environment. She says the brightly-colored fish native to Japan are therapeutic for her.

The state considers the koi an invasive species.

A Superior Court judge last month upheld the state’s restrictions.

The Kennebec Journal (http://bit.ly/12XiExk ) reported that Curran filed an appeal on June 12 to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.