Uv-^ 



^'d^^'" 



-L 



' 



T 



'■^j^ 



^^!r^r-^ 



'■-'''! iij^-i^--'- 



fc-_- 



r- 



The Aquarium 



^=^ 



^. 



Volume II 



JANUARY, 1914 



Number 8 



History of Goldfish 



By R. W. SHUFELDT. M. D., Washington, D. C. 



It would seem to be a matter beyond 

 question, at the present time, that the 

 common or simple form of goldfish had 

 its original habitat in certain parts of 

 China. Our earliest records appear to 

 establish the fact that some of these, 

 probably about the year 1500, were im- 

 ported into Japan and received at a 

 small town not far from Osaka. This 

 importation was followed by numerous 

 others, not only from China, but from 

 Korea as well. In both of these coun- 

 tries goldfish had long been under culti- 

 vation, the history of which dates back 

 to and beyond recorded history. 



Fancy goldfish were even cultivated 

 in Japan many years prior to 1700, and 

 some of those very early establishments 

 are still in existence, continuing the 

 work commenced by the ancestors of the 

 present proprietors or others associated 

 with the enterprise since. The goldfish 

 farms of Japan stand among her most 

 important industries, and several very 

 extensive ones have grown up in the 

 United States, for the culture and sale 

 of these fish is a very profitable business. 

 Although not belonging in the same 

 genus, the common goldfish is related to 

 the carp of Europe, the scientific name 

 for the first being Carassius auratus and 

 the second Cyprinus car pi o. 



The carp, with the varieties artifici- 

 ally bred from it, are all very interesting 

 fishes with a history, but space will not 



J 



admit of referring to them here. In 

 Figure 1, however, I have given a good 

 illustration of the Common Carp of 

 Europe in order to show its resemblance 

 to the wild goldfish, a figure of which is 

 given below it. Many have gained the 

 idea that the goldfish is a sort of modi- 

 fied carp, or in other words that it may 

 be traced back to the common carp 

 from which it was bred at an early date 

 in China. There is no truth in this tra- 

 dition and nothing in history to sub- 

 stantiate it. The Japanese goldfish, par- 

 ticularly the variety known as the 

 Wakin, will, in a few generations, revert 

 to the form of the wild fish if it happens 

 to escape into open waters. This has 

 already occurred at Washington, D. C, 

 where, several years ago, the goldfish 

 got out of the Government carp-ponds 

 during a flood and escaped into the Po- 

 tomac River. They flourished in their 

 new environment, and are now taken in 

 numbers by the local fishermen, who, 

 unfamiliar with their origin, sell them in 

 the city markets as "sand perch." They 

 have lost all their gold color, though 

 they are far from being a "perch." 



I"iG. 1. Common Carp of Europe (Cyfrinus carpio). 

 By the author from an old English woodcut 



