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EveryFish

Selective breeding

Breeding fish for chosen traits over many generations, which gave us fancy goldfish, koi, show guppies and bettas.

Also: ornamental strain, domestication

Goldfish were bred in China from a wild carp more than a thousand years ago, and breeders have since produced fancy forms with double tails, bulging eyes and hoods. Koi were bred from the common carp in Japan from the 19th century, prized for their colour patterns. Siamese fighting fish were bred in Thailand for fighting and then for long fins and colours, and guppies come in hundreds of show strains. Farmed salmon and tilapia have been bred for growth. Some fancy forms have health problems that come with their shapes.

See also

Aquarium Sexual dimorphism Public aquarium

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