84 



THE AQUARIUM, JANUARY, 1894. 



should they have turned milky white 

 (albinos), which, however, the common 

 goldfish seldom does, they are known 

 as pearl-fish. 



The young, when kejit in warm 

 ponds, may grow six inches long in 

 four months ; as a general thing the 

 length reached in that time is from 

 two and a half to three inches. 



Deformities occur oftener in this 

 family of fishes than in any other, and 

 this would also seem to help disprove 

 the correctness of the theory that the 

 male has a short dorsal fin. Specimens 

 minus a dorsal, anal or even caudal fin 

 are frequent, but it is rare to see one 

 destitute of scales, or minus an eye or 

 with a lobsided mouth. It may also be 

 mentioned, that should a few scales be 

 accidentally knocked off of a goldfish, 

 nature will soon replace them. 



The old-fashioned goldfish has, for 

 the last fifty years, perhaps, become wild 

 in the United States. Having accident- 

 ally escaped into open waters, it soon 

 made itself at home, becoming thorough- 

 ly acclimated, and in consequence has 

 been quoted by several authors as a 

 native American fish. It is true that 

 having been born here it is in one 

 sense native, but is not native, in the 

 sense, origin, or having originated here. 

 Living thus in a wild state the fish 

 has greatly degenerated from the origi- 

 nal standard. 



The cultivation of the goldfish has 

 lately received a new impulse through 

 the efforts of the late Admiral Daniel 

 Ammen, of the United States Navy. 

 This gentleman, about sixteen years ago, 

 brought from Japan a number of speci- 

 mens of the choicest varieties, which 

 have since been reproduced with success. 

 To these were added others by import- 

 ers on the Pacific coast and the author, 

 who first imported the Telescope fish. 



JAPANESE GOLDFISHES.* 



( Carassius jajjonicus. ) 

 Japanische Goldfische. 



Poisson d'Orienf^ 



The Japanese specify the goldfish by 

 the shape of the body and that of the 

 fins, the coloring in most species being 

 the same. The prevailing colors are 

 vermilion, gold and white, if indeed 

 the last can be called a color. 



The Japanese classification being 

 rather complicated, the species' names 

 will be omitted for convenience sake, 

 and the fish described in the manner 

 others have been, though at the same 

 time retaining the foreign nomencla- 

 ture. 



THE TELESCOPE. 



This fish is indeed an odd looking 

 affair. The body is spherical very 

 much like that of a frog-tadpole, and 

 covered, as all goldfishes are, with 

 medium-sized scales. The fins are very 

 delicate in structure ; the anal fin most- 

 ly absent ; the caudal fin is double, verj 

 large and dee^^ly divided. The eyes are 

 large and project forward, having the 

 appearance of a small telescope adjust- 

 ed to the eye (see illustration); from 

 this the fish received the name it bears. 

 To make the eyes more prominent the 

 Jajianese culturist resorts to an ingeni- 

 ous device. He places the young fish 

 in small, dark-glass vessels shaped for 

 the purpose, and which obliges the fish 

 to look constantly in but one direction. 



The color of the fish may be either 

 vermilion, white or jet black or part of 

 either, the markings in that case being 

 very beautiful. The body of the fish is 

 all out of proj^ortion to the size of the 

 fins, and in consequence propulsion is a 

 difficult matter. 



*The Goldfish and its Systematic Culture.— Mulertt. 



