THE JAPANESE SHUBUNKIN 



F. BAMFORD HANMA, B. St 



Original Water Color by Frank H. Goodby 



Before me as I write is an aquarium, 

 and disporting within its confines of 

 glass are a number of goldfish, a pan- 

 zerwel or two, and some other fishes. 

 But the ones of which I am most proud 

 are Shubunkins, because, forsooth, I 

 bred them myself. In this, as a mere 

 statement of fact, there is nothing note- 

 worthy. Many other aquarists have 

 bred them, and it is probably the most 

 easily reared of all the fancy breeds of 

 goldfish. What interests me is the 

 varied forms of the youngsters. 



The parent fish were long of body, 

 as should be in this breed, and many- 

 colored, being dappled with black and 

 brown on a background of yellow, red, 

 blue and perhaps a little purple. With 

 this fine dress I had high hopes of gor- 

 geous youngsters, hopes, however, that 

 were not entirely realized. The babies, 



of which there were several hundred, 

 were as varied a lot of goldfish as I had 

 ever seen. Quite a few were opaque- 

 scaled like the common goldfish, the 

 majority were transparently-scaled, but 

 plain in color, only a few, a very few, ap- 

 proached the colors for which I had 

 hoped. Some of each had double tails, 

 and several with quite deep bodies 

 would pass for fair nymphs. In view of 

 these variations it is remarkable that . 

 none had pronounced telescope eyes, 

 though some did have just a tendency 

 in that direction. 



The results were really what one 

 should expect from the shubunkin. It 

 is our most recent man-made form of 

 the goldfish, having been originated by 

 a Japanese breeder about fifteen years 

 ago, by crossing the calico telescope 

 with the common goldfish. 



