Celestial eye goldfish
Country of origin
China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...  and/or Korea Korea Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
Type
Fantailed
Breed standards
AGA BAS

Celestial eye goldfish or Choten gan is a double-tailed breed of fancy goldfish

Goldfish

The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....

 that has a breed-defining pair of telescope eyes which are turned upwards, pupils gazing skyward. When the fry hatch, the eyes of young Celestials are normal but gradually protrude sideways, as in the Telescope eye

Telescope Eye

The telescope eye or demekin is a fancy goldfish characterized by its protruding eyes. It is also known as globe eye or dragon eye goldfish.-Description:...

 goldfish, and then turn upwards within a period of six months.

Origins

Celestials first appeared as a direct mutation

Mutation

In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...

 of the Telescope goldfish in the 18th century. Competing traditions lay claim as to exactly where this happened first, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 or China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. The first documentation that Celestials existed appears on a Chinese scroll of 1772, where a goldfish lacking a dorsal fin and possessing protuberant upturned eyes is depicted. Celestials did not arrive in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 until 1903 when thirty specimens arrived from China and became the foundation stock for Japanese breeders. Japan quickly became the leading producer of Celestials for export. This remained so until the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Celestials arrived in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 from Japan in the first decade of the twentieth century and were included in the first edition of William T. Innes

William T. Innes

William Thornton Innes III, L.H.D. was an American aquarist, author, photographer, printer and publisher. Innes was the author of numerous influential books and hundreds of articles about aquarium fish, aquatic plants and aquarium maintenance during the formative years of the aquarium hobby in...

's Goldfish Varieties and Tropical Aquarium Fishes in 1917. American fanciers successfully bred the fish and, in turn, exported foundation stock to Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, where there is a small but devoted band of breeders propagating the fish to this day. After World War II, and ever since, the vast majority of Celestials exported from Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 are of Chinese origin. A Celestial goldfish is depicted on a postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

 issued in 1960 by the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

.

Description

The Celestial is a relatively small variety of goldfish that has a torpedo-shaped body similar to the Bubble Eye

Bubble Eye

The Bubble Eye is a small variety of fancy goldfish with upward pointing eyes that are accompanied by two large fluid-filled sacs. It is a dorsal-less fish, and good specimens will have a clean back and eye bubbles well matched for colour and size...

. Like the Bubble Eye, the Celestial does not have a dorsal fin. Their paired fins are of the Fantail

Fantail (goldfish)

The Fantail goldfish is the western form of the Ryukin that possesses an egg-shaped body, a high dorsal fin, a long quadruple caudal fin, and no shoulder hump.-Description:...

 or Ryukin

Ryukin

The ryukin is a short deep-bodied fancy goldfish with a characteristic hump in the shoulder region.-Description:The ryukin is a hardy and attractive variety of goldfish with a pointed head and has a pronounced hump on the back behind the head. It may be long-finned or short-finned with either a...

 type. The caudal may be half as long, to as long, as the body. They are most commonly seen with metallic scales colored various shades of orange (called 'red' by fanciers), white, or red and white. Celestials with nacreous scales are known but rarely seen. Despite their limited vision and their lack of a dorsal fin, they are active and agile swimmers. They do require some special attention since, apart from sporting easily damaged upward-oriented eyes, and having limited vision, they are also sensitive to cold water temperatures. They are unable to compete with more vigorous goldfish for food. Sharp ornaments and objects in the aquarium are contraindicated. They are best kept with other limited-vision breeds (i.e the Bubble Eye) or in a tank of their own.

Variants

The original Celestial breed, described above, is still bred and exported by Chinese and Japanese breeders and is commercially available to fanciers, though they are not as commonly stocked by aquarium shops and dealers as some other goldfish varieties. It is this 300-year old form that is described in the American standard adopted by the American Goldfish Association and the Goldfish Society of America. British fanciers prefer their Celestials to have deeper, egg-shaped bodies and shorter fins, and have selectively bred for these features as required by the British standard. In recent decades, the Chinese have crossed Celestials with several other breeds, most commonly Lionhead

Lionhead (goldfish)

The lionhead is a hooded variety of fancy goldfish. This fish is the precursor to the ranchu.-Description:The tremendous hood or headgrowth and fat cheeks of lionheads give them a facial appearance similar to canine puppies. The "wen" fully covers the head, cheeks and gill plates of the fish...

s, Ranchu

Ranchu

The ranchu is a hooded variety of fancy goldfish developed in Japan. It is referred to as the "king of goldfish" by the Japanese.-Origins and evolution:The modern-day ranchu is a Japanese development of the lionhead...

s and Hana fusas (Pompoms), producing much larger fish with short ranchu-like fins and very deep, blocky bodies, often with narial 'bouquets' (pompoms) and rudimentary headgrowths. Some of these crosses tend to be less animated swimmers, especially those that possess a sharply downturned, ranchu-like caudal peduncle with flared caudal fins, traits which are otherwise uncharacteristic for the breed. Such fish can be quite sendentary, spending most of their time at or near the bottom of the aquarium; however, a more expansive color range can be found among these hybrids, with metallic specimens appearing in chocolate, black and various bi-colors in addition to the standard metallic colors, and nacreous fish seen in bi-color, tri-color and calico. These hybrids are not generally available commercially outside Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 but can be acquired through specialist dealers and importers. The Deme-ranchu, is identical to the Celestial in conformation save for its telescopic eyes which do not turn upward. In any spawning of Celestials, many fry will be found to mature with telescopic eyes that never turn upwards. These fish are identical to deme-ranchu. The Toadhead or Hama-tou in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, is similar to the Celestial in having upward-turned eyes, though they are not protuberant, each supporting a small bladder-like growth beneath it. The toadhead is more likely a precursor to the Bubble eye.