Chris Plumb's Blog

Note the interestingly shaped crucian - a quite extreme case of 'phenotypic plasticity'. High backed in response to the presence of predators. I've had a comment querying whether it is even a crucian (you know who you are Paul!) so back to Crock of Gold for a thorough check. And the verdict is it looks OK. Lateral line count is 33 - which is spot on, Dorsal fin is convex - goldfish are concave. And the tail is the right shape, goldfish have a more pronunced V shaped tail. No hint of any barbules so no common carp in the parentage (which is highly likely to increase the lateral line count as well!). Also the book gives a couple of examples of crucians with that colouring - so I'm satisfied its a bone fide crucian!