20 



GOLDFISH VARIETIES A^D 



THE GOLDFISH 



There are two root-stocks from which the goldfishes of to-day have 

 originated. Both are members of the carp family. The European gold- 

 fish, Carassius carassius, has never been developed into any of the fancy 

 forms except by crossing with cultivated types of the Asiatic stock, Ca- 

 rassius anratus. The Orientals, principally those of Korea, China and 

 Japan must be given credit for first establishing, by selective breeding, 

 the goldfish as an ornamental pet as well as for the incredible lengths to 

 which they have gone in fixing fancy breeds. Of this more will be said 

 later. 



Fig. 9. The Common Goldfish (Carassius anratus) 



Although a common American goldfish has been described by at 

 least one writer, no such division properly exists. Those sometimes 

 found in American waters are invariably from escaped or liberated stock 

 from one of the two varieties mentioned, or from their hybrids. 



The normal color of fishes of both root-stocks is of a silver-gray or 

 olivate hue, but with a strong natural tendency towards albinism, which 

 produces occasional specimens of a yellow or golden color. By selective 

 breeding the colors have become fairly well fixed, although in the scaled 

 varieties the color is still at first carp-like, turning to gold, white or black, 

 as a rule, in from three to eight months. Instances are quite common 

 where they live to an old age without ever turning, so strong is the ten- 

 dency among goldfish to revert to the ancestral stock. 



