Shubunkin
Country of origin
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...
Type
Single tailed
Breed standards
BAS

(translated literally as "red brocade") are a hardy, single-tailed 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....

 with nacreous scales, and a pattern known as calico. The shubunkins are of 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...

ese origin.

The Shubunkin was created by Yoshigoro Akiyama （秋山　吉五郎）, by crossing Calico 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:...

 with Common goldfish

Common goldfish

Common goldfish or hibuna are a type of goldfish with no other modifications from their ancestors other than their colour. Most varieties of fancy goldfish were derived from this simple breed...

.

Description

Shubunkins are similar to the common goldfish

Common goldfish

Common goldfish or hibuna are a type of goldfish with no other modifications from their ancestors other than their colour. Most varieties of fancy goldfish were derived from this simple breed...

 and comet goldfish in appearance. They were first bred in Japan, from mutations in telescope eye goldfish (Demekins) c. 1900. They have streamlined bodies with well-developed and even fins. However, the shubunkins are calico goldfish; they possess nacreous scales (a mix of metallic and transparent scales that are pearly in appearance). The overlapping patches of red, white, blue, grey and black (along with dark speckles) normally extend to the finnage of shubunkins. Blue is the most prized colour in shubunkins. Calico originally denoted three coloured varieties of goldfish that dido not include blue. The best blues are produced from line breeding of good blue specimens of shubunkins. Sometimes good blues may be obtained by breeding bronze (metallic) with pink (matt) goldfish, but a grey slate colour may result instead.
It may take several months for the nacreous coloration to develop on a young fry (baby fish). Shubunkins are excellent pond fish because they reach a length of 9 to 16 inches (23 to 41 centimeters) at adulthood. A shubunkin goldfish is considered an adult at 2 to 3 years of age, even though they live much longer.

Variants

• London shubunkins have stout bodies and also short, rounded finnage that is similar to the common goldfish.

• American shubunkins (pictured in infobox) have a slimmer body shape than the london shubunkin with deeply forked, pointed tail fins, and longer finnage all around.

• Bristol shubunkins are slim bodied goldfish with well-developed finnage possessing a tail that is large, moderately forked, and rounded at the end making a shape similar to that of the capitalized letter "B".