Types of Goldfish 



(The VeiUail Telescope) 



Wm. T. Innes, Jb. 



Philadelphia 



Among the advanced goldfish 

 breeders today, the veiltail tele- 

 seoi)e ruh'S king. It combines a 

 greater number of points than any 

 other fancy-bred fish, and in spite 

 of the great numbers raised, per- 

 fect specimens are rare. In the 

 centres where these fish are in de- 

 mand the fancier possessing a fair- 

 sized coUection of fine specimens 

 has an asset of positive value, for 

 it can be converted into cash to 

 better advantage than most per- 

 sonal belongings. It sounds like a 

 figure of sjieech to say that a cer- 

 tain fish is worth its weight in gold. 

 1 have never gone into the matter 

 accurately, but I am sure I have 

 known a number of cases where twice the 

 weight in gold would not match the price 

 brought by these aristocrats of the aciuarium. 

 Fifteen to twenty-five dollars buj'S a fish 

 considerably out of the ordinary class. 

 These are prices frequently paid, but for fish 

 which are perfect in all points and ])()ssess 

 extraordinary coloring, one hundred dol- 

 lars is by no means an unheard-of price, 

 especially if the purchaser has the begin- 

 ner's fever in violent form. 



The veiltail telescope has been evolved 

 indc]iendently in the United States and in 

 Germany. The telescope fish was first 

 bred in China or Korea, the peculiar mon- 

 strosity of protruding eyes being originally 

 ])roduced, it is believed, by shaking the 

 eggs at a certain period of their develop- 

 ment. The standard to which the Chinese 

 worked was th;it of a body of moderate 

 length, brilliantly colored or very black, 

 eves ])r()truding violently, moderate 

 length tail, fully divided, anal fins doulile. 

 The fish was altogether grotescjue, well in 

 keeinng with Chinese fancy, yet having 

 a kind of beautiful ugliness not to be de- 

 nied. The Japanese mind runs more to 



VEILTAIL TELESCOPE GOLDFISH 



Half life size 



Carassi}!.'} fnnritiis, rar. rhinensis penfh(libica}id(ilis 



Photograph by the author 



elegance and grace. They originated the 

 tyi)e known as the fringetail, a fish with 

 short body and extremely long fin develop- 

 ir.ent. The creation of a type of animal, 

 like the making of a Hower, is somehow 

 deeply connected with the artistic genius 

 or temperament of a people. The Ameri- 

 cans and (iernians are somewhat lacking in 

 ;i definite national artistic life, but they 

 have a genius for experimenting and for 

 (loing the difiicult thing, whatever it may 

 be. This has brought them to cross the 

 Jajjanese fringetail and the Chinese tcle- 

 sco])(_ — two fish of very different cliarac- 

 i eristics — and try to retain all the points 

 of both fish ! They have succeeded very 

 well indeed, but it is doubtful wlietlier so 

 much as one fish has ever ap])eared pos- 

 sessing the astonishing eye development 

 and the \ ivid coloring ol' the originally 

 im])orted Chinese telescope, together with 

 the extreme fin development of the Jap- 

 anese fringetail or veiltail. the latter being 

 the name given the type with very broad, 

 full tails, and which are the more difficult 

 to breed. Those with long narrow tails 

 are termed ribbontails. 

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