Goldfish Facts

About the goldfish

Wild carp are usually gray or silver, but now and then they produce red, orange or yellow mutants. During the Tang dynasty (AD 618 to 907), people kept carp in ornamental ponds, and a gold mutation caught on. By the Song dynasty, breeding was well established, and in 1162 an empress ordered a pond built for red and gold fish. Yellow was the imperial color, so ordinary people could not keep yellow ones.

Indoor keeping began under the Ming dynasty, which led to the first fancy-tailed fish. Goldfish reached Japan in 1603 and Portugal in 1611, then spread across Europe, where for a time husbands gave one to their wives on a first anniversary. They arrived in North America around 1850. Breeds now vary in body shape, fins and colors from white to black. Goldfish dumped into the wild have turned into invasive pests in Australia and parts of North America.

Did you know?

• A Baltimore breeder nicknamed the 'Gold Fish King' sold over one million goldfish a year.
• The goldfish's scientific name is Carassius auratus.
• Prussian carp and crucian carp belong to the same genus as the goldfish.