Lionchu
Encyclopedia
| Lionchu goldfish |
|---|
| Country of origin |
| Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... |
| Type |
| Fantailed |
| Breed standards |
| GFP |
The Lionchu or lionhead-ranchu is a 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 resulted from crossbreeding lionheads
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...
and 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.
Description
The WestWest
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
ern criteria for lionchus combine the traditional characteristic side-view profiles of the ranchu and the lionhead. The ranchu's deep body, broad and curved back, and tail placement has been merged with the large headgrowth of the lionhead. Lionchus do not have dorsal fins.
Origins and evolution
Although at first, the lionchus were considered merely as mongrelMongrel
Mongrel refers to mixed ancestry:* In botany, a mongrel may refer to the offspring of varieties of a species which was in contrast to a hybrid* Among pets, one whose parentage is of unknown or mixed breeds as opposed to purebred...
s, being hybrids of the lionheads and ranchus, the lionhead actually have an ancestor from 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...
in the 1800s; it is then known as
the shishigashira 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...
or lion-headed ranchu. The shishigashira ranchu is a 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...
-like goldfish with small amounts of headgrowth and some having small knobs and bumps on the back (a suggestion that the absence of the dorsal fin had not yet been stabilized at the time). But the modern-day lionchu is considered to have originated from Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and was popularized by a group of goldfish hobbyists in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
through RafflesGold.com, an internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based goldfish forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
site. The lionchu was officially recognized as a unique class of fancy goldfish during the "My Fancy Goldfish Competition 2006", which was held in Singapore from May 26-28, 2006.
Other sources
See also
- LionheadLionhead (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...
- RanchuRanchuThe 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...