Comments on: A Fishy Saga

By: DWA

DWA — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:09:01 +0000

What is it?

Just another reminder from Mother Nature that that “species” stuff is something we made up, not her.

By: MountDesertIslander

MountDesertIslander — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:49:12 +0000

Here's a picture of a London Shubunkin that looks suspiciously like the unidentified fish.

By: MountDesertIslander

MountDesertIslander — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:42:54 +0000

Bristol shubunkins are preferably quite colorful, some, however, are not. These are usually discarded on sight as not to pollute the gene pool, so to speak. I have seen them solid orange, solid black, and solid gray. These have no value to a breeder as they are worthless to serious enthusiasts who covet the ornamental look of a koi.

That is a large shubunkin that was released/ escaped into the wild and prospered. It is not a strange hybrid of different species of fish–unless it is a Gup-piranha shark eel swordtail.

By: Sordes

Sordes — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:09:18 +0000

Another possibility would be of course this is really nothing but a quite large goldfish. If goldfish grow larger, their proportions change, and they look different from the goldfish most people are familiar with. Furthermore some wild born goldfish never become really golden (or otherwise coloured), but remain dark or bronze-coloured. A quite similar fish was caught some years ago in a small pond in Blyton near Gainsborough.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/hybrid%20fantail%20goldfish/whistlekiller/fantail.jpg

By: Sordes

Sordes — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:46:15 +0000

I don't think it's any sort of koi or karp hybrid, as they often have at least stumpy barbels, which are not present in this fish. It's also obviously neither a shubunkin of any sort (which are typically quite colourful) nor any kind of siamese (not japanese) fighting fish. Here is some more information about hybrids of crucian carps with other cyprinids, including goldfish. Sadly there is no photo of a hybrid with a fantail goldfish.

By: mandors

mandors — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:53:49 +0000

It’s way too big, and it’s the wrong color, but it kind of looks like a gigantic Japanese fighting fish.

By: MountDesertIslander

MountDesertIslander — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:10:42 +0000

My brother raised these once. It’s a bristol shubunkin.

By: Sordes

Sordes — Thu, 31 May 2012 09:17:13 +0000

It is extremely improbable that this fish is a hybrid of three different species, and actually -despite the description in the original article – the head of this fish doesn’t really look that much like those of a roach at all, and the anal fin looks only similar to those of a bream because it is very large – as most of the other fins of this fish.

I suppose this could by a hybrid of a fantail goldfish and a crucian carp (Carassius carassius). Other hybrids between goldfish and crucian carps have been documented before, and they looked also similarly. Both species are closely related too.

Another possibility would be a crossbreed of a goldfish with a Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio), but I think a crucian carp x fantail goldfish is more probable.

By: Averagefoot

Averagefoot — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:13:32 +0000

I agree with flame. When I saw it it just looked like a fancy goldfish or a fancy goldfish/koi or carp cross. Look at how incredibly mutated some of the fancy varieties have become.

By: Dr Kaco

Dr Kaco — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:12:21 +0000

Pretty cool looking. Head is more Koi/Carpish looking rather than the Roach he presumes.