Celestial Eye

For other uses of Celestial, see Celestial (disambigua-

tion).

Celestial eye goldsh or Choten gan[1] is a double-tailed

breed of fancy goldsh that has a breed-dening pair of
telescope eyes which are turned upwards, pupils gazing
skyward.[2] When the fry hatch, the eyes of young Ce-
lestials are normal but gradually protrude sideways, as in
the Telescope eye goldsh, and then turn upwards within
a period of six months.[3]

1 Origins Group of Celestial Goldsh

Celestials rst appeared as a direct mutation of the Tele- they are active and agile swimmers. They do require some
scope goldsh in the 18th century. Competing traditions special attention since, in addition to having easily dam-
lay claim as to exactly where this happened rst, Korea aged upward-oriented eyes (and, as a result, having lim-
or China. The rst documentation that Celestials existed ited vision), they are sensitive to cold water temperatures.
appears on a Chinese scroll of 1772, where a goldsh They are unable to compete with more vigorous goldsh
lacking a dorsal n and possessing protuberant upturned for food. Sharp ornaments and objects in the aquarium
eyes is depicted. Celestials did not arrive in Japan until are inadvisable. They are best kept with other limited-
1903 when thirty specimens arrived from China and be- vision breeds (i.e. the Bubble Eye) or in a tank of their
came the foundation stock for Japanese breeders. Japan own.[2][4] ]
quickly became the leading producer of Celestials for ex-
port. This remained so until the outbreak of World War
II. Celestials arrived in the United States from Japan in the
rst decade of the twentieth century and were included
3 Variants
in the rst edition of William T. Innes's Goldsh Vari-
eties and Tropical Aquarium Fishes in 1917. American The original Celestial breed, described above, is still bred
fanciers successfully bred the sh and, in turn, exported and exported by Chinese and Japanese breeders and is
foundation stock to Great Britain. After World War II, commercially available to fanciers, though they are not
and ever since, the majority of Celestials exported from as commonly stocked by aquarium shops and dealers as
Asia are of Chinese origin. A Celestial goldsh is de- some other goldsh varieties. It is this 240+ year old form
picted on a postage stamp issued in 1960 by the Peoples that is described in the American standard adopted by the
Republic of China. American Goldsh Association and the Goldsh Soci-
ety of America. British fanciers prefer their Celestials to
have deeper bodies and shorter ns, and have selectively
bred for these features as required by the British standard.
2 Description In recent decades, the Chinese have crossed Celestials
with several other breeds, most commonly Lionheads,
The Celestial is a goldsh that has an elongated egg- Ranchus and Hana fusas (Pompoms), producing much
shaped body similar to the Bubble Eye. Like the Bubble larger sh with short ranchu-like ns and very deep,
Eye, the Celestial does not have a dorsal n. Their paired blocky bodies, often with narial 'bouquets (pompoms)
ns are of the Fantail or Ryukin type. The caudal may be and rudimentary headgrowths.
half as long, to as long as, the body. They are most com- Some of these crosses tend to be less animated swim-
monly seen with metallic scales colored shades of orange mers, especially those that possess a sharply downturned,
(called 'red' by fanciers), white, or red and white. Celes- ranchu-like caudal peduncle with ared caudal ns, traits
tials with nacreous scales are known but rarely seen. which are otherwise uncharacteristic for the breed. Such
Despite their limited vision and their lack of a dorsal n, sh can be quite sedentary, spending most of their time at

1
2 6 EXTERNAL LINKS

or near the bottom of the aquarium; however, a more ex-

pansive color range can be found among these hybrids,
with metallic specimens appearing in chocolate, black
and various bi-colors in addition to the standard metal-
lic colors, and nacreous sh seen in bi-color, tri-color and
calico. These hybrids are not generally available commer-
cially outside Asia 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 Celes-
tials, many fry will be found to mature with telescopic
eyes that never turn upwards. These sh are identical to
deme-ranchu. The Toadhead or Hama-tou in Japanese,
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.[2]

4 See also
Main article: Goldsh

5 References
[1] Fishes in Nature and in the Aquarium from Nutran
News Aquatic magazine, Rolf C. Hagen (U.S.A.) Inc. and
Rolf C. Hagen Corp. (Montreal, Canada), Issue #4, 2004
[2] An Interpet Guide to Fancy Goldsh by Dr. Chris An-
drews, Interpet Publications, 2002. - ISBN 1-902389-64-
6
[3] Free Information Keeping Celestial Eye Goldsh
[4] Fancy Goldsh: A Complete Guide to Care and Collect-
ing by Dr. Erik L. Johnson, D.V.M. and Richard E. Hess,
Weatherhill, Shambala Publications, Inc., 2006. - ISBN
0-8348-0448-4

Innes, Dr William T. The Sacred Fish of Ko-

rea, Aquarium Highlights, Innes Publishing Co.
Philadelphia, 1951.
Innes, Dr. William T. Goldsh Varieties and Trop-
ical Aquarium Fishes, 9th Edition, Innes Publishing
Co, Philadelphia, 1926.
Matsui, Dr. Yoshiichi, Goldsh Guide, 2nd Edition,
TFH Publications, Inc, Neptune, N.J. 1981
Hervey, G.F. & Hems, J. The Goldsh, 1st Edition,
Batchworth Press, London, 1948.

6 External links
Varieties of Goldsh -About Celestial Eye
 3

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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