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Chinese goldfish variety tree 中国金鱼品种图

How Chinese breeders group their goldfish: two body forms, 文形 (wén form, with a dorsal fin) and 蛋形 (egg form, no dorsal fin), each split by the trait that varies (head, eyes, narial flaps, back, scales, tail) down to 29 representative varieties and 13 varieties made by crossing two of them.

Variety tree

Hover or tap a box to light its line back to 金鱼 (goldfish) and show its names below. Keyboard: Tab into the tree, then arrow keys move (← parent, → child, ↑ ↓ same column), Enter pins, Esc clears.

Lineage after the Variety Diagram for Chinese Goldfish (中国金鱼品种图) in Goldfish of China; redrawn. Tap a box for its Chinese name, pinyin, English name and trait group.

Legend

Goldfish and body form: 金鱼 splits into 文形 (wén form, dorsal fin) and 蛋形 (egg form, no dorsal fin).
Trait group (…类, “class”): what varies, such as head shape or eyes. Paler cyan boxes are the variation types (…型) inside a group. The book shows both in grey as 变异类型 (variation types).
Variety: a representative variety (代表品种) of its type.
Cross: a variety combining two parents. Its two parent lines are dashed; they light up when you select the cross or either parent's line. In the book each cross has its own coloured line.
(日) marks a variety of Japanese origin, as in the book.
[uncertain] or “literal”: no settled English hobby name, so the English is a literal translation. See About the names.

Plain list

The same tree as a nested list: Chinese, pinyin, English name.

金鱼 jīnyú — Goldfish
- 文形 wén xíng — Wén form: goldfish with a dorsal fin (文 as in 文鱼, not the head growth)
  - 原型类 yuánxíng lèi — Prototype group (the basic body plans)
    - 草金 cǎojīn — Common goldfish (lit. “grass gold”)
    - 文鱼 wényú — Fantail (lit. “wén fish”: the basic twin-tailed fish with a dorsal fin) [uncertain]
    - 和金 héjīn — Wakin
  - 头型变异类 tóuxíng biànyì lèi — Head variants (styles of head growth, or wen)
    - 鹅头型 étóu xíng — Goose-head wen type (wen on top of the head only)
      - 鹤顶红 hèdǐnghóng — Red-cap (red-cap oranda; lit. “red-crowned crane”)
    - 虎头型 hǔtóu xíng — Tiger-head wen type
      - 高头 gāotóu — High-head (oranda with a tall wen; literal) [uncertain]
    - 狮头型 shītóu xíng — Lionhead type
      - 狮头 shītóu — Lionhead (oranda type: wen plus dorsal fin) · Oranda hologram
    - 龙头型 lóngtóu xíng — Dragon-head type (literal)
      - 东锦 (日) dōngjǐn — Azuma nishiki (calico top-view oranda)
  - 眼型变异类 yǎnxíng biànyì lèi — Eye variants
    - 龙睛型 lóngjīng xíng — Telescope-eye type
      - 龙睛 lóngjīng — Telescope eye (lit. “dragon eye”)
    - 蛤蟆眼型 háma yǎn xíng — Toad-eye type (literal)
      - 蛤蟆眼 háma yǎn — Toad eye (literal; dorsal-fin form) [uncertain]
    - 水泡型 shuǐpào xíng — Bubble-eye type
      - 扯旗水泡 chěqí shuǐpào — Dorsal bubble eye (lit. “flag-raising bubble eye”)
  - 鼻膜变异类 bímó biànyì lèi — Narial (nasal-flap) variants
    - 文球型 wénqiú xíng — Pompom type (with dorsal fin)
      - 文球 wénqiú — Pompom (with dorsal fin; also 绒球 róngqiú)
  - 背峰变异类 bèifēng biànyì lèi — Back-profile variants (lit. “back peak”: the humped back)
    - 琉金型 liújīn xíng — Ryukin type
      - 琉金 liújīn — Ryukin · Tosakin history (a ryukin is in its ancestry)
  - 鳞片变异类 línpiàn biànyì lèi — Scale variants
    - 皮球珍珠型 píqiú zhēnzhū xíng — Pearlscale type
      - 皮球珍珠 píqiú zhēnzhū — Pearlscale (lit. “ball pearl”: the round-bodied pearlscale)
  - 尾鳍变异类 wěiqí biànyì lèi — Tail-fin variants
    - 文蝶型 wéndié xíng — Butterfly-tail type
      - 文蝶 wéndié — Butterfly tail (normal eyes, with dorsal fin)
    - 地金型 dìjīn xíng — Jikin type
      - 地金 (日) dìjīn — Jikin (peacock tail)
  - Crosses (two parent lines, drawn dashed in the diagram)
    - 龙睛高头 lóngjīng gāotóu — Telescope oranda (lit. “dragon-eye high-head”). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 高头 (high-head oranda)
    - 高头球 gāotóu qiú — Pompom oranda (lit. “high-head pompom”). Parents: 高头 (high-head oranda) × 文球 (pompom)
    - 龙睛球 lóngjīng qiú — Telescope pompom (lit. “dragon-eye pompom”). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 文球 (pompom)
    - 高身龙睛 gāoshēn lóngjīng — High-body telescope (ryukin-bodied telescope; literal). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 琉金 (ryukin)
    - 皇冠珍珠 huángguān zhēnzhū — Crown pearlscale (pearlscale with a wen). Parents: 皮球珍珠 (pearlscale) × 高头 (high-head oranda)
    - 龙睛蝶尾 lóngjīng diéwěi — Butterfly telescope (butterfly-tail moor). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 文蝶 (butterfly tail)
    - 龙睛高头球 lóngjīng gāotóu qiú — Telescope pompom oranda (literal). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 高头球 (pompom oranda)
    - 龙睛皇冠珍珠 lóngjīng huángguān zhēnzhū — Telescope crown pearlscale (literal). Parents: 龙睛 (telescope eye) × 皇冠珍珠 (crown pearlscale)
- 蛋形 dàn xíng — Egg form: goldfish without a dorsal fin
  - 原型类 yuánxíng lèi — Prototype group (the basic body plans)
    - 蛋鱼 dànyú — Eggfish
    - 蛋凤 dànfèng — Phoenix eggfish (dorsal-less, long tail)
    - 南京 (日) Nánjīng — Nankin
  - 头型变异类 tóuxíng biànyì lèi — Head variants (styles of head growth, or wen)
    - 鹅头型 étóu xíng — Goose-head wen type (wen on top of the head only)
      - 鹅头红 étóuhóng — Royal goose head (red-cap; lit. “goose-head red”)
    - 虎头型 hǔtóu xíng — Tiger-head wen type
      - 虎头 hǔtóu — Tiger head (Chinese ranchu-type) · Ranchu: names of parts
    - 狮头型 shītóu xíng — Lionhead type
      - 国寿/虎头/寿星/猫狮 guóshòu / hǔtóu / shòuxīng / māoshī — Chinese lionhead lines: guoshou (lit. “national longevity”), tiger head, shouxing (lit. “longevity star”), cat-lion (literal) [uncertain] · Ranchu: names of parts
    - 龙头型 lóngtóu xíng — Dragon-head type (literal)
      - 日寿/泰寿 rìshòu / tàishòu — Japanese-line and Thai-line shou (literal) [uncertain]
  - 眼型变异类 yǎnxíng biànyì lèi — Eye variants
    - 龙睛型 lóngjīng xíng — Telescope-eye type
      - 蛋龙 dànlóng — Egg telescope (dorsal-less telescope; lit. “egg dragon”) (literal)
    - 蛤蟆眼型 háma yǎn xíng — Toad-eye type (literal)
      - 蛤蟆眼 háma yǎn — Toad eye (literal; dorsal-less form) [uncertain]
    - 望天型 wàngtiān xíng — Celestial-eye type
      - 望天 wàngtiān — Celestial eye (lit. “gazing at the sky”)
    - 水泡型 shuǐpào xíng — Bubble-eye type
      - 水泡 shuǐpào — Bubble eye
    - 灯泡眼型 dēngpàoyǎn xíng — Lightbulb-eye type
      - 灯泡眼 dēngpàoyǎn — Lightbulb eye
  - 鼻膜变异类 bímó biànyì lèi — Narial (nasal-flap) variants
    - 蛋凤球型 dànfèng qiú xíng — Phoenix-eggfish pompom type (literal)
      - 蛋凤球 dànfèng qiú — Phoenix-eggfish pompom (literal)
    - 蛋球型 dànqiú xíng — Egg pompom type
      - 蛋球 dànqiú — Pompom eggfish (dorsal-less pompom)
  - Crosses (two parent lines, drawn dashed in the diagram)
    - 虎头球 hǔtóu qiú — Tiger-head pompom (literal). Parents: 虎头 (tiger head) × 蛋球 (pompom eggfish)
    - 龙睛寿 lóngjīng shòu — Telescope lionhead (lit. “dragon-eye shou”). Parents: 国寿/虎头/寿星/猫狮 (lionhead lines (4)) × 蛋龙 (egg telescope)
    - 蛋龙球 dànlóng qiú — Egg-telescope pompom (literal). Parents: 蛋龙 (egg telescope) × 蛋球 (pompom eggfish)
    - 望天球 wàngtiān qiú — Celestial pompom. Parents: 望天 (celestial eye) × 蛋球 (pompom eggfish)
    - 灯泡眼蛋龙 dēngpàoyǎn dànlóng — Lightbulb-eye egg telescope (literal). Parents: 灯泡眼 (lightbulb eye) × 蛋龙 (egg telescope)

About the names

Two different “wen”. In English hobby use, a wen is the head growth (an old English word for a fleshy growth; Chinese calls it 头瘤, tóuliú). 鹅头 (goose head) and 虎头 (tiger head) are styles of wen, named mostly in Chinese references: a goose-head wen sits on top of the head only, as on the royal goose head (鹅头红). The 文 (wén) in 文形 and 文鱼 is a separate Chinese word for the fantail body form with a dorsal fin, as opposed to the dorsal-less 蛋 (egg) form. On this page the body form is written “wén” (with the tone mark) and the head growth plain “wen”.
English names follow common hobby usage where one exists (ryukin, wakin, pearlscale, celestial eye, bubble eye, pompom and so on). Otherwise the name is translated literally and marked as such.
狮头 with a dorsal fin is an oranda-type fish. The egg-type lionhead lines (国寿/虎头/寿星/猫狮) and 虎头 (tiger head) are the dorsal-less, ranchu-like fish.
东锦 is the Japanese Azuma nishiki, a calico top-view oranda. It is not the shubunkin (朱文锦), which is a calico single-tail.
虎头 appears twice in the egg form, under 虎头型 and in the 狮头型 box. Both are kept as printed.
Uncertain English renderings: 文鱼, 高头, 蛤蟆眼, 国寿, 猫狮, 日寿/泰寿, and the dragon-head type name.
Why some drawings are top views and some are side views: goldfish were first kept in ponds and bowls and looked at from above, so the top view mattered most, as it still does for egg-form fish such as the royal goose head and the ranchu types. As aquariums became popular, the side view grew more important, as with the oranda and the ryukin.

Sources

Lineage after the Variety Diagram for Chinese Goldfish in Goldfish of China (ed. Ye Qichang & Qu Liming, Straits Publishing); redrawn.

Goldfish of China: Descriptions and Illustrations of Diversed Goldfish in China (中国金鱼), chief editors 叶其昌 (Ye Qichang) and 曲利明 (Qu Liming), 海峡书局 / The Straits Publishing & Distributing Group. Fold-out “Variety Diagram for Chinese Goldfish” (中国金鱼品种图).
Only the names and lines of the diagram are redrawn here. The fish line drawings shown when you select a variety are outlines traced from the fold-out's paintings, or from photos where the fold-out paints a fish at an angle or a photo shows it straight from the side or from above (wakin, royal goose head, oranda, pearlscale, bubble eye, telescope eye, butterfly telescope, red-cap, high-head, pompom and pompom eggfish); the paintings and photos themselves are not reproduced. Pinyin and English names were added for this page.