710 OCEANOGRAPHY 



eighty days from the time of hatching, and by the middle of August 

 the fish should all have lost the dark pigment, and acquired bright 

 colors. I am told a curious fact, --that the fish which change their 

 color earliest are apt to be white, or variegated white and red, while 

 those that change later are apt to be uniformly red. What can be 

 the significance of such a fact? I am also told that by the middle 

 of August of the second year, all the individuals, however obstinate, 

 change their color. It is worth while determining whether, even if 

 the young are left to themselves and not given the care which they 

 receive at a breeder's, they will change color by the summer of the 

 second year. 



White is commercially worthless, and is ruthlessly weeded out. It is 

 also said that, to improve the brightness of the color, the fish should 

 be somewhat underfed, - - that is, should be given about 80 per cent 

 of the ordinary feed. In Koriyama they have the trick of bleaching 

 out white spots in the red, by applying some mixture. The result, 

 I think, is not worth much. 



I have by no means exhausted the subject of the goldfish; in fact, 

 I doubt whether any one can write all the minute details of the art of 

 goldfish-raising. But I think I have said enough to show how full of 

 interest goldfish-breeding is, not only from the commercial or aesthetic 

 point of view, but from the purely scientific standpoint. A most casual 

 glance shows it to be full of problems which have ever attracted the 

 serious attention of biological investigators. 



I have just now no available statistics in regard to the output of 

 goldfish, but the number produced must be millions upon millions. 

 It shows the power of children in the nation, for they are par excel- 

 lence the customers of these establishments. It is said that in the old 

 regime, even in years when a famine was stalking in the land and 

 hundreds were dying from starvation, there was a tolerable trade in 

 goldfish, proving the truth of an old proverb: "Crying children and 

 landlords must not be disputed." Landlords are not now tyrannical 

 as of yore, but children have not abated their power in the slightest- 

 degree, and that they do not get the moon seems simply to be due to 

 the fact that it involves an impossible feat for their parents. 



The Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus) 



Closely connected in some respects with the culture of the snapping- 

 turtle and of the goldfish is that of the carp. As stated before, 

 the carp is put in the same pond with Trionyx ; and the raising of 

 the ornamental varieties is generally undertaken by goldfish-breeders. 

 There are several breeds, among which the red carp ("higoi"), the 

 "hokin" (literally "gold-cheeked," with the operculum of the gold or 

 silver color), and the " goshiki-goi " (literally "five-colored," or varie- 



