GOLDFISH BREEDS 



made permanent in the goldfish, though the Oriental breeders did not 

 confine themselves to this but developed combinations embracing every 

 shade and color combination. Variations in body and head, difference in 

 eye, fin and scale were also developed to such an extent as to produce all 

 those strange varieties and almost incredible monstrosities which can be 

 bred in all domesticated animals. 



After the desired type had been established, breeding was carried 

 forward generation by generation, until those wide differences were pro- 

 duced and perpetuated which now characterize the various breeds of 

 Japanese and Chinese Goldfishes; but China, even more than Japan, is so 

 truly the land of the bizarre that this is also most evident in their gold- 

 fishes; and, to the uninitiated, the forms and colors developed by them 

 would appear like nightmares or caricatures of the fish when judged from 

 the standard of European and American breeders. Every conceivable 

 variation in bodily appearance, head, snout, mouth, eye, fins, tail and color 

 has been developed and bred so as to force the conclusion that nothing is 

 impossible to the Chinese breeder. All the varieties are not known in the 

 United States, as some especially of the Chinese breeds, have probably 

 never been exported or failed to survive the long journey; but the widely 

 diversified appearance of those with which we are familiar leads to the ex- 

 pectation of even greater marvels as the result of that Oriental patience 

 and perseverance which is proverbial in the Mongolian race. By methods 

 apparently known only to themselves they have succeeded in developing 

 and perpetuating malformations of structure which entirely change the 

 appearance of every part of the fish. Some varieties of their goldfishes 

 have the bodies modified in every conceivable way; shortened, elongated, 

 rounded, curved, crescent-shaped, triangular in section or twisted and other- 

 wise distorted into strange forms; with the dorsal fin sometimes only half 

 its normal length or entirely absent. Others have the paired fins length- 

 ened and abnormally shaped, the anal double or absent; the caudal of 

 every conceivable form; the head so much shortened and the snout mal- 

 formed as to produce an almost bulldog appearance, or covered by papillo- 

 matous growths, the eyes almost wholly projecting beyond the orbits, to 

 appear like globular or tubular projections, with the pupils pointing side- 

 wise, forward or straight upward. Others have the scales raised from the 

 sides to give an appearance like a ruffled fowl; some are so transparently 

 scaled as to appear entirely scaleless or have a few scales on an otherwise ap- 

 parently scaleless body. The marking and colors are equally fantastic and 

 baroque and show every grotesque and fanciful design and color conbina- 

 tion. No single detail seems to have been omitted that could produce the 

 wierdest conceptions of what might be considered a diseased imagination. 



42 



