General Principles of Breeding 



The remarkable results that have been achieved by the Japanese in producing variations in the 

 form and color of goldfish have depended on no secret or mysterious processes and no mechanical 

 devices or appliances, but have been due to an intelligent application of natural laws. Professor 

 Mitsukuri, of the Imperial University of Tokyo, has noted that the Japanese goldfish culturists well 

 understand the principle of "breeding to a point." and although they are usually without much 

 education and have acquired all of their knowledge from practical experience, they often discuss 

 evolutionary matters in a way that suggests acquaintance with the Darwinian theory of the origin 

 of species. Some of the ideas current in America as to the ways in which the varieties have been 

 produced are quite absurd and cause much amusement to the Japanese. 



In brief, the Japanese breeders have attained their success by adhering as strictly as possible to 

 nature in feeding, rearing, and otherwise caring for their fish ; by eliminating the unfit ; and by 

 providing a superior brood stock and definitely selecting the fish that are to mate each year. The 

 resulting rich harvest, with its beauty of form and color, is a necessary consequence, and bears testi- 

 mony to the combination of patience, skill, and intelligence in the character of the Japanese that 

 enables them to accomplish so much in all their pursuits. 



The only exception to the employment of purely natural methods in Japanese goldfish culture 

 is that at Koriyama the practice has existed from very early times of artificially making designs on 

 the backs of the fish. This is done by the use of dilute hydrochloric or muriatic acid, and the process 

 consists in a decolorization which leaves the treated parts white. This destruction of the pigment 

 in the skin is possible only over the scaly body, and cannot be safely brought about on the unsealed 

 parts — the heads and fins. The operation is best performed in August or September, and the fish 



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