Going for gold(fish): 3,000 owners compete to see who has the fattest, longest pet fish in China

By SARA MALM

Goldfish Olympics: Seemingly endless rows of entrants in the championships are scrutinized by breeders and judges

For goldfish breeders all over the world, the wait is finally over as the first ever International Goldfish Championships has begun.
Whilst some goldfish can enjoy the quiet life of a glass bowl, others are bred for competition.
Over 3,000 ornamental fish have been entered in championships to fight for prizes in 12 categories.

Superfish: A judge examines one of the flapping entrants in the International Goldfish Championships in Fuzhou yesterday

Some of the more prominent contenders include a 14.2in long Black lion-head goldfish hoping to swim away with the crown in the longest goldfish category.
Meanwhile a 3.3lbs streaky sulfur goldfish, presented by Wang Zhangliang from Zhangzhou, China, competes in the heaviest goldfish contest.
Goldfish fans from all over China came to watch the prized specimen show off their swimming skills in rows upon rows of white bowls.

Stealing the show: The frontrunner for the longest goldfish category, a 14.2in long Black lion-head goldfish flaps a pose for the camera

Bowled over: One of the judges walks from specimen to specimen taking notes for one of the 12 categories as the fish show off their swimming skills in the white bowls

The judges have begun their assessments, walking from bowl to bowl, measuring and weighing each goldfish before crowning the winners.
Preparation for goldfish competitions is not a game. Goldfish breeders looking for a top placement have to look after everything from the fish’s diet to water quality, temperature and PH level to make sure the champions are in perfect condition as they go before the judges
The competition is held in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian province.

Looking for a showflopper: Judges are looking for prime examples of goldfish as they prepare to reward the first ever champions

A golden streak: A 3.3lbs streaky sulfur goldfish has its fins set on becoming the heavyweight champion in the competition

source: dailymail

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The lazy amphibian who hitched a lift with a goldfish

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Lazy: This frog was too tired to swim across the pond... so hitched a lift on board a passing fish


A gardener was stunned when he found a frog getting a piggyback from a goldfish in his pond.

Pensioner Tony Butler rushed for his camera and captured the pair gliding across the water in his garden in Paignton, Devon.

He snapped a picture of the bizarre scene and then used a net to haul both out of the pond and separated them because he was worried the fish may be injured.


Hop on: Surprised owner Tony Butler thinks the frog hopped its way into the garden in search of a mate


Mr Butler, 75, and his wife Joyce have two ponds at their home in South Devon, one for fish and one for newts and toads.

He thinks the frog had hopped its way into the garden and moved to the wrong pond in search of a mate.

Mr Butler said: 'I had heard the frog croaking for a fortnight before this happened so I guess he was looking for a mate.

'I went to look at the pond and saw it on top of my biggest goldfish.

'I've heard that frogs can attack fish in this way but I've never seen anything like it before.

'The frog was there for quite a while and I began to worry about my goldfish so a pulled them both out with a net and found the frog had clamped himself on top of it.

'I've no idea where the frog came from. We live in the middle of Paignton and somehow it found our garden and found the pond.

'I put the fish back into the pond and she looks none the worse for the ordeal although if we hadn't done something she could have croaked.'

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We're going to need a bigger bowl! Fisherman catches massive 30lb 'goldfish'

By Mail Foreign Service

What a whopper! Angler Raphael Biagini got the surprise of his life when he landed this gigantic koi carp on a fishing trip to France. At 30lb it's thought to be the largest of its kind ever caught in the wild


It might look like an enormously generous fairground prize.

But no goldfish bowl in the world could contain this catch.

The orange koi carp weighs 30lb - the same as an average three-year-old girl - and is thought to be one of the largest of its kind ever captured.

It took Raphael Biagini ten minutes to reel the creature out of a lake in the south of France - moments after fellow anglers told him they had spent six years trying to snare the legendary 'giant goldfish'.

Mr Biagini, pictured, said: 'To begin with, we couldn't tell what was at the end of the line, but we knew it was big.

'The fish was a good fighter, but not enough to win.'

After an impromptu photoshoot, the 30-year-old from Montpellier returned his prize catch to the water.


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The see-through goldfish: Japanese scientists develop fish whose hearts and brains are visible thanks to translucent skin

see you: A Mie University image shows a goldfish whose beating heart can be seen through translucent scales and skin in Tsu city, central Japan


First came see-through frogs. Now Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing goldfish whose beating hearts can be seen through translucent scales and skin.

The transparent creatures are part of efforts to reduce the need for dissections, which have become increasingly controversial, particularly in schools.

'You can see a live heart and other organs because the scales and skin have no pigments,' said Yutaka Tamaru, an associate professor in the department of life science at Mie University.

'You don't have to cut it open. You can see a tiny brain above the goldfish's black eyes.'

The joint team of researchers at Mie University and Nagoya University in central Japan produced the 'ryukin' goldfish by picking mutant hatchery goldfish with pale skin and breeding them together.

'Having a pale colour is a disadvantage for goldfish in an aquarium but it's good to see how organs sit in a body three-dimensionally,' Tamaru said.

The fish are expected to live up to roughly 20 years. They could grow as long as 25cm (10in) and weigh more than 2kg (5lb), much bigger than other fish used in experiments, such as zebrafish and Japanese medaka, Tamaru said.

'As this goldfish grows bigger, you can watch its whole life,' he said.

Meanwhile another group of researchers, who announced in 2007 they had developed see-through frogs, said they planned to start selling the four-legged creatures, whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage.


Transparency: Yutaka Tamaru, an associate biology professor at Mie University, and his team have succeeded in producing the transparent goldfish, which is part of efforts to reduce the need for laboratory dissections


'We are making progress in their mass-production. They are likely to be put on the market next year,' said Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of Hiroshima University.

Sumida said see-through tadpoles and adult frogs would be available in the first half of next year in Japan for laboratories and schools and as pets, with a price tag expected to be below 10,000 yen (£70) each.

He also wants to sell the creature abroad.

Animal rights activists have pressed for humane alternatives to dissections, such as using computer simulations.

Sumida's team produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica, whose backs are usually ochre or brown. Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog to be pale.

While goldfish are easier to keep, frogs are higher forms of life and therefore preferable for experiments, Sumida said.


source: dailymail

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