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The Types Of Koi Fish
Koi are very popular fish bred and taken care of by hobbyists around the world. Koi is a Japanese word that means "carp" and includes the dull gray wild carp caught in rivers and also lakes for food, along with the brightly colored varieties. It is the colorful koi fish which are bred for their beauty. Although the proper expression for these "living jewels" is nishikigoi, most people, especially those in the United States, refer to them simply as koi.
A Very Koi Story
The carp originated from Central Europe and also Asia where it was merely a food fish. It was the Chinese that began propagating specific species of carp until they developed the gold fish more than a thousand years ago. The Chinese first brought koi as food to Japan in 200 AD. Looking at the lovely color mutations, Japanese farmers in Niigata, a prefecture in Honshu, bred them for ornamental purposes and produced several color designs. The first variety to be popular is the kohaku, the red-and-white koi.
The Niigata koi was first seen by the community in 1914 in the course of the annual exposition in Tokyo. The charming, colorful fish captivated the whole of Japan and some kept koi because they looked perfect for their water gardens. It didn't take long before the rest of the world caught up on the hobby. These days, Niigata continues to be the home of the finest koi breeders although you can buy koi from most pet stores. Then again, you have to go to specialized dealers if you want the higher-quality fish. Prices of koi differ according to the very koi-like feature of the fish.
Koi Attributes
You can find koi with different colors and patterns. The usual colors are white, black, red, yellow, blue and cream. Female koi are usually plump while the males are a lot more streamlined with torpedo shapes. A fully-grown koi can grow as long as 36 inches and weigh over 17 pounds. The koi are hardy and tough, and can live for decades depending on their genetics and living conditions. The oldest koi ever reported was "Hanako" that supposedly lived up to 226 years.
The Koi are omnivores which means they eat almost anything including vegetables. It is very koi of the fish to look for food at the bottom of the pond. Although koi fish are really shy and will dash away when disturbed, they usually recognize the person routinely feeding your koi fish. It is ordinary to see koi gathering around their keeper during feeding times with several eating directly from the hand.
Varieties of Koi
There are several types of koi that are recognized by the color, pattern and scales. There are some hybrids like the Ghost koi and Butterfly koi that have also acquired popularity but are not regarded as true Nishikigoi. Among the prominent kinds of the true Nishikigoi are the following:
- Kohaku - white koi with big red marks on top
- Taisho Sanshoku - looks like the Kohaku but has additional small black markings
- Showa Sanshoku - black koi having red and white marks
- Tancho - any koi with a lone red patch on top of its head
- Asagi - is colored light blue on top and red beneath
- Utsurimono - black with very koi marks of red, white or yellow
- Bekko - base color of red, white or yellow with small black markings
- Goshiki - black koi accented with red, white, brown and also blue markings
- Shusui - does not have scales other than a single row of large mirror scales running down the dorsal area, from head to tail
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