List of goldfish varieties
Goldfish
This is a list of goldfish varieties and their characteristics. Currently, there are about 300 breeds of goldfish recognized in China.[1]
Single-tailed varieties
Single tailed varieties have a single caudal fin and anal fin. They have longer, streamlined bodies and are faster swimming than shorter egg-shaped goldfishes. They all come from common goldfish, but rare egg-shaped varieties like nymph goldfish are developed from egg-shaped goldfish. They have no telescopic eyes, celestial eyes, nor bubble eyes. They have no headgrowths like orandas, lionheads, and ranchus, narial boquets like pompoms, or curled gills like curled-gill.
Streamlined bodied
- Common goldfish - They are the most common type of goldfish, hence the name. All varieties of goldfish are developed from these. They have a streamlined body not egg-shaped nor sphere-shaped. Normal eyes not telescopic, celestial eyed, nor bubble eyed. Normal single caudal fin and anal fin, not long, not long and forked, not doubled, nor absent. Present dorsal fin. Smooth normal head. Normal nasal septum. Normal operculum. Available in common colors, red, orangish red, orange, orangish yellow (gold), yellow, black, white, brown, rust, "blue", calico or mixture of these colors. Developed from prussian carps.
- Comet goldfish - They are similar except that they have long and forked tail. They are developed in USA. Developed from common. Same colors as common goldfish.
- Bristol goldfish - They are similar to common except that they have large heart-shaped tail. Not bristol shubunkin but bristol and not only calico-colored but all colored. Developed from common. Same colors as common goldfish.
Shubunkin goldfish are not included in this article because shubunkins have no color/pattern except for calico. All of the varieties of goldfish have colors the same as common goldfish from which they all developed.
Egg-shaped bodied
- Nymph goldfish - Similar to fantail except they have only one caudal fin and anal fin. Rare type of fish mutated from fantails or can be mutated in ryukins and other goldfish. The standard is fantail. All single-tailed mutated fancy goldfish are considered a nymph goldfish - even ryukin-like tamasaba. Developed from fantail.
Double-tailed varieties
Double-tailed or fancy goldfish. Fancy, in goldfish, meaning they have double caudal fins and anal fins. Is the most popular and the most expensive types of goldfish. There are two types of fancy goldfish:
Streamlined bodied
- Wakin goldfish - Similar to the common goldfish except they have double caudal fins and anal fins. All fancy goldfish are bred from these.
- Jikin goldfish - Similar to the common goldfish except they have double caudal fins and anal fins that splay outwards. Developed from wakin goldfish.
Egg-shaped bodied
Egg-shaped goldfish are most popular types of goldfish, they have two types:
Dorsal finned varieties
Orange-white Ryukin goldfish
- Fantail goldfish - They have shorter and rounder body than commons. They have double caudal fins and anal fins.
- Ryukin goldfish - Similar to the fantail, except with a larger hump. Their name is derived from Ryukyu islands, which they have been bred. Since they have a larger hump, you need an aquarium that is taller than most fancy goldfish require.
- Pearlscale goldfish - They have shorter and rounder bodies compared to other goldfish. They have a sphere-shaped body, so they are very susceptible to constipation. You'll need to soak the flakes or pellets first under water for a few minutes in order to remove the air inside the food before feeding it to pearlscales. They have whitish pearl-like raised scales which they look attractive to many peoples. Some peoples said that when their scales fall off they will grow only normal scales and some said that they need more calcium to grow their pearl-like scales again. They have a hard whitish pearl-like raised scales and should not be kept in an aquarium with rough objects that can cause their scales to fall off anyway their scales have advantage because it is hard so it takes a more rough object to take its scales off.
- Telescope goldfish - They are similar to fantails except they have telescopic eyes. They have a zoomed and limited vision and should not be kept in an aquarium with rough objects that can harm or even can cause blindness to their telescopic eyes. Some people claim this goldfish as having a long finnage but the standard is fantailed which they have developed. Usually, black telescopes are referred to black moors and many peoples differentiate them to telescope goldfish; black moors have a velvety black or black matte body and broader, longer and more deeply forked tails, while telescopes do not come in black but calico-colored only and have fantail-like tails but this is wrong referring. Some peoples say that the black moor is a separate variety of goldfish but this is wrong. In addition, black moors are not called black moors, instead they are called black telescopes because black moors are only different in color.
- Oranda goldfish - Similar to fantail except they have headgrowth. They have soft, spongy headgrowth and should not be kept in an aquarium with rough objects that can harm their headgrowths that can cause infection. Some people claim this goldfish as having a long finnage but the original or standard is fantailed which they have developed.
- Curled gill goldfish - Are like a fantail goldfish with a curled gill or their gills are turned outwards. This is referred to as a fault but considered as a breed. The standard is fantail bodied and tailed.
- Veiltail goldfish - Similar to fantail except they have more longer tails same to the veils. Remember they are prone to fin nipping because many fishes are attractive to long flowing fins and are also slow moving because of their heavy veil-like tails.
- Ribbontail goldfish - Similar to fantail except they have long and forked tail like a ribbon. Also similar to comet goldfish with an egg-shaped body and double caudal fins and anal fins.
- Tosakin goldfish - They are the only fancy goldfish type that has undivided double tail fins that curls their tails at the ends. It was once believed that it was mutated originally from ryukins but this is not cleared and can also mutate from fantails but the standard was same body to that of fantails.
- Broadtail goldfish - Similar to fantail except they have broad finnage.
Dorsal finless varieties
Bubble eye goldfish
- Eggfish goldfish - Similar to wakin except they have no dorsal fins. They are developed from wakin.
- Pompom goldfish - Similar to eggfish except they have larger nasal septa. Developed from eggfish. They are called "pompoms" resembling to the cheerleader's pompom balls. They are developed from eggfish.
- Lionhead goldfish - Similar to eggfish except they have headgrowths. They have soft, spongy headgrowth and should not be kept in an aquarium with rough objects that can harm their headgrowths that can cause infection. They are developed from eggfish.
- Ranchu goldfish - Similar to lionhead except they have more turned tail bones. They have soft, spongy headgrowth and should not be kept in an aquarium with rough objects that can harm their headgrowths that can cause infection. They are developed from lionhead.
- Celestial eye goldfish - Similar to eggfish except they have upturned eyes. Many people call it "stargazers" or "skygazers" because their eyeballs are turned permanently upwards. Due its upturned eyes, they are should not kept in aquarium that have rough objects that can harm or hurt their eyes or even can cause blindness. Developed from eggfish.
- Bubble eye goldfish - Similar to celestial eye except they have been produce a fluid under each upturned eyes. Their bubbles can be fragile not as hard as you think and not as soft as you think. When their bubble-like fluid-filled eye sacs or bladders are ruptured, they will grow back again but can lead to infection and also, the popped bubble eye are not the same size as the original so it would be asymmetrical, it will grow smaller than original one. Due its bubble-like fluid-filled eye sacs or bladders, they are should not kept in aquarium that have rough objects that can harm or hurt their eyes or even can cause blindness. Developed from celestial eye.
- Izumo Nankin - A rare Japanese breed that takes the form of a dorsal-less ryukin with a ranchu like tail. The head is very pointed when viewed from above with a wider body forming a triangular shape. This breed of goldfish is available normally in a red and white color pattern.
Pond goldfish
Water lilies and goldfish at Biltmore
Pond goldfish at the Yuyuan Garden
Most Goldfish varieties are capable of living in outdoor ponds. Goldfish that are not capable of living in ponds include celestial eye and bubble eye, because of their fragile eyes.
Goldfish Tail Types
Single-tailed tail types
- Common-tailed - Is standard single tail of any goldfish. It is like a fantail but it is doubled.
- Comet-tailed - Is much longer and more deeply forked than common-tailed. It is like ribbontail but it is doubled.
- Bristol-tailed - Is a single heart-shaped tailed.
Double-tailed tail types
- Fantailed - This is the standard tail type of fancy goldfish. Is a tail of common goldfish that is doubled. This tail is also standard for wakin, jikin, ryukin, pearlscale, telescope, oranda, eggfish, pompom, lionhead, ranchu, celestial eye, and bubble eye.
- Veiltailed - Claimed standard to telescopes and orandas but are incorrect. Much longer two times than fantail.
- Ribbontailed - Longer tail and longer fork than fantail. Is a tail of comet goldfish that is doubled.
Other tail identification
- Broadtailed - Is any finnage type of fancy goldfish that has a broad finnage.
- Butterflytailed - Is any finnage type of fancy goldfish that has a butterly finnage or their tails is flattened horizontally.
Colors of goldfish
There are three main color pigments of goldfish but some are just a reflection that reflects a color other than these three color pigments.
- Erythrophores - has a red pigment which resulting in red goldfish.
- Xanthophores - has a yellow pigment which resulting in yellow goldfish.
- Melanophores - has a black pigment which resulting in black goldfish.
And this is the color combinations and appearance of the three main color pigments above.
- Red - in red goldfish, many erythrophores are present while xanthophores and melanophores are absent. Brightly colored red goldfish are often higher priced than orange ones.
- Red orange - this is a rare color that contrasts the gold counterpart like red and yellow. A red colored with a little tinge of orange.
- Orange - in orange goldfish, a balanced number (not exactly same number but a nearly same number) of erythrophores and xanthophores are present while melanophores are absent. This is the standard color of goldfish.
- Gold - in gold goldfish, many xanthophores and little erythrophores are present while melanophores are absent. Goldfish have many colors and they are named goldfish because the first color mutation of goldfish was gold. A contrast of red orange.
Gold goldfish - Yellow - in yellow goldfish, many xanthophores are present while erythrophores and melanohores are absent.
- Black - in black goldfish, many melanophores are present while eryhrophores and xanthophores absent.
- Gray - in gray goldfish, at the top it has many melanophores but as it goes down melanophores are decreases.
- White - in white goldfish, white goldfish has no pigments are present, all are absent.
- Brown - in brown goldfish, all three pigments are present and in balanced, nothing are absent.
- "Blue" - in "blue" goldfish, many melanophores are present in the deep skin while erythrophores and xanthophores are absent.
See also
Notes and references
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carassius auratus. |
- "Carassius auratus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 October 2004.
- Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2004). Carassius auratus auratus in FishBase. September 2004 version.
- Bristol Aquarists' Society: Goldfish — Photographs and descriptions of the different goldfish varieties.
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