the.com/goldfish
a domesticated carp that outlived your last three apartments and every promise you made it
means a small freshwater fish, typically orange and bred from a type of carp, commonly kept as a pet in bowls and ponds
from A plain compound of "gold" and "fish" — English saying exactly what it sees. The animal itself comes from East Asia, where Chinese fish-keepers spent centuries selectively breeding a drab grayish carp (Carassius) into the gleaming orange ornament we know; the practice and the fish reached Europe only later, carrying their golden name with them.
- actual lifespan
- can live 20 to 40 years
- size limit
- grows huge in ponds, stunted in bowls
- memory myth
- remembers things for months, not seconds
- color trick
- goes pale without sunlight exposure
- origins
- bred from drab gray carp in ancient China
fantail goldfish — ornamental breed with split tail fin, originated in china during the song dynasty (960-1279)
comet goldfish — single-tailed variety developed in the us in the 1880s, named for its speed and streamlined body
ryukin goldfish — japanese fancy breed with distinctive humped back, prized in koi shows since the edo period