The Deme-Ranchu 



PoPEYE Ranchu. Telescope-fish. Celestial 



The Japanese ha\e liestuwed tlie name deme-ranclui mi a variety wliose acquaintance they liave 

 verv recently made cumhinin,;;' characters of the demekin and the ranchu. .\mericans became famihar 

 witli tliis fish inucli earlier than the Jajianese, and called it the celestial, in allusion to the peculiar 

 direction of the eyes. Professor Mitsukuri suggested the name "astronomical telescope-fish" for the 

 same reason. 



When a person sees this variety for the first time, he is likely at once to assume a Chinese 

 origin from its grotesque appearance. The fish did in fact originate in China, and was unknown in 

 Japan until 1901 or 1902, although long before that time it was often ascribed to Japan in western 

 countries. Demekin and ranchu are evident in its construction, although the former factor must 

 have been of a somewhat different type from that known in Japan. 



The general shape is like the ranchu, the body being shortened, the vertebral column strongly 

 cm-ved upward, the back and head very broatl. and the abdomen distended laterally, so that the globular 

 form is approached. The eyes are \er\- large, and in highly developed, full-grown fishes their diameter 

 is more than half the length of the head. The "telescopic" feature varies from a moderate bulging to an 

 e.xtraordinarv degree of protrusion that may exceed the diameter of the eye. Along with this elonga- 

 tion of the eveball there is a lendencx- to turn upward, and in the ty]>ical deme-ranchu the eyes no 

 longer point horizontallv. but \erlicallv. having changeil their direction 90 degrees, and the pupils 

 look straight toward the sky. It is to sucli fish that the name "celestial" applies. 



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