The Deme-Ranchu 



POPEYE RANCHU. TELESCOPE-FISH. CELESTIAL 



The Japanese have bestowed the name deme-ranchu on a variety whose acquaintance they have 

 very recently made combining characters of the demekin and the ranchu. Americans became familiar 

 with this fish much earlier than the Japanese, 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 

 curved upward, the back and head very broad, and the abdomen distended laterally, so that the globular 

 form is approached. The eyes are very 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 

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

 tion of the eyeball there is a tendency to turn upward, and in the typical deme-ranchu the eyes no 

 longer point horizontally, but vertically, having changed their direction 90 degrees, and the pupils 

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



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