The influence of the Chinese and the Japanese on goldfish forms can readily be seen in the illustrations in this website. The Chinese bred them in the same sort of "beautifully ugly" forms as we see in their grotesque ceremonial dragons, temple dogs, and other native works of art. The Japanese preferred a gentler beauty, the sort exemplified in their carvings and paintings, and so they produced many forms with graceful, flowing, veil-like fin and tail formations.

   Seafaring travelers in the seventeenth century brought goldfish into England and France as expensive curios from the Orient. If one story is true, they were first offered as a unique gift to amuse Madame de Pompadour.

   In 1878, the first goldfish were brought to the United States by Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen in a sizable shipment for the United States Fish Commissioner. On display in Washington, they created an overnight sensation. Private fanciers and a few farsighted dealers ordered shipments of their own immediately, and the goldfish was well on the way to becoming one of the most widely owned house pets in America.

   There are no native American goldfish. Those seen or caught in American lakes, ponds, and streams were undoubtedly escaped or released pets. However, the United States leads the world in mass production, and the output of three or four fair-sized American fisheries easily exceeds the national production of Japan. The fixed species and varieties of goldfish now in America are as outstanding in quality as in quantity, and no fish surpasses them physically or artistically. Several fisheries, including our own, still order stock from Japan now and then, but we do this only to hold our quality by adding new blood.

   Being concerned with the business all my life, it has been pleasant for me to see goldfish develop from a comparatively expensive oddity to a simple joy that everyone can afford. There is hardly a town today in which a youngster cannot walk into a dime store and, for a little small change, walk out with a couple of goldfish in a glass bowl or in one of the new plastic goldfish sacks.

   In Japan goldfish are as popular as in America. Old men, with two buckets of goldfish hanging from a pole balanced across their shoulders, are familiar sights on the streets. The goldfish sell for the equivalent of a penny or two, depending on the size and kind, and, as in America, children are the best customers. And though speaking a different language, they make the same noises and smile the same smile as American children when they run home with a couple of new goldfish.