Cyprinus carpio carpio

History

 * Koi is an anglicized pronunciation of the Japanese word for carp “goi”. In contemporary usage koi refers to the selectively bred colorful mutations of Cyprinus carpio produced for appreciation rather than food.  The Japanese and koi hobbyists around the word prefer the word “nishikigoi” (translated as brocaded, or colorful, or fancy carp).  In Japan Cyprinus carpio likely has been introduced on several occasions.  The oldest was probably around 200 BC based upon bones found in the Torihama shell-mound.  In the 1600s the Dutch may have introduced a more directly European subspecies.  From this stock the winter snow bound rice farmers of Yamokoshi started to selectively breed color mutations as for their amusement.  In 1914 these koi, then called irogoi (colored carp) were introduced the wider world at the Taisho Expo.  About this same time the carp variants known as Leather and Mirror carp were added to the gene pool as a gift from Germany.  WWII interrupted the development of nishikigoi, and most parent stock was eaten during the food shortages of that period.  Nonetheless nishikigoi famers still developed new varieties and the 1960s saw a nishikigoi boom time in Japan.  The Japanese interest in nishikigoi has since waned and 90% of nishikigoi production in Japan is currently exported.

Note

 * Koi are a very trainable fish. They will begin to recognize the person who feeds them and come to the surface to beg for food whenever they see that person. With practice, they can be taught to eat from your hand.

Varieties

 * Koi come in a wide arrange of colours, scale patterns, and finnage. Scale patterns can be the traditional fully scaled body and the European variety known as doitsu-goi. Doistu-goi only have scales on the top and bottom parts of their body.  The two types of finnage are traditional length and a longer version sometimes called dragon or butterfly carp.   [[Image:Koi varieties.jpg|thumb|right|The Major varieties of koi]]


 * The most common colour patterns are listed below.
 * Kohaku - white with red patterns
 * Sanke - white with red and black patterns
 * Showa - black with red and white patterns
 * Tancho - white body with a red spot on the head
 * Asagi - light blue scales on the top and red scales on the bottom
 * Bekko - white (Shiro bekko), red (Aka bekko), or yellow (Ki bekko) with a black pattern
 * Utsurimono - black with a red, white, or yellow pattern
 * Goshiki - mostly black with red, white, brown, and blue accents
 * Ogon - one solid colour, can be regular or metallic; colours - red, orange, platinum, yellow and cream
 * Kinginrin - Koi with shiny scales. There are Gin Rin versions of almost every other type of Koi.
 * Kawarimono (kawarigoi) - all other colours
 * Muji - one colored koi, including the all red aka muji, and shiro muji
 * albino koi - highly prized because of rarity. Classed as Shiro Muji