Where Koi fish came from and how they were developed over the years from dull carp into beautifully colored Koi
Receive a FREE 10-week koi fish survival guideThe first 10 weeks are the MOST IMPORTANT to ensure Enter your details below now and we'll start sending you this
*your name and email address will not be sold, shared or disclosed to anyone. We respect your privacy* |
The colorful Japanese fish known as koi can be found at every corner of the globe. Millions of people from countless countries have garden ponds that house these beautiful fish, and according to scientists, koi date back to the time of dinosaurs.
Koi have come a long, long way—literally—in these millions of years. The jury is still out on the exact location they hail from, but since the beginning of recorded history, koi have made their presence known. These popular fish, a variety of carp (cyprinus carpio), are thought to have originated in Persia (modern day Iran) and then made their way to Japan and other parts of the world.
The carp didn’t get up and walk there, obviously. Instead, koi were introduced to Japan through trades. It’s unclear exactly who the Japanese traded with. The fossils dating back millions of years have been found in both China and Persia; however, most do agree that koi weren’t used as ornamental fish when Japan started trading for them in the 2nd century. In fact, they were a source of food for the many residents of the country, and probably food for many in the world.
Today’s koi, known sometimes as “living/water jewels” or “swimming flowers,” weren’t so aesthetically pleasing when they were first being traded and eaten. As these fish are born and left to evolve naturally, their colors are brown, by and large, with the occasional koi coming out white, blue or black. All non-brown carp, due to their extreme rarity, were known as mutants and thus valued more highly than the average brown fish.
Koi have always been rather large fish, but they are thought to have increased in size since the Japanese began cultivating them. Most koi today grow upwards of three-feet in length and weight around 30 pounds on average. Koi have an average lifespan of around 50 years if kept safe and fed correctly, but some are on record as living upwards of 200 years. Due to this unusually long lifespan, scientists have studied the koi trying to unlock some secrets of long life.
The Japanese also studied koi when they began to discover more and more mutants which deviated from the usually brown fish. The Japanese would take a blue koi and a white koi, for example, and put them in a controlled environment for breeding. The results were astonishing, and the koi we know of today are a result of Japan’s cross breeding and cultivation process.
Every multi-colored koi variety has a unique name and is considered a unique species. Even though they’re technically the same fish, the mutant gene seems to be permanent in koi, meaning that two orange and white koi will breed orange and white koi more often than not, and likewise with other varieties. The process took a long time to implement, but today’s koi are beloved all over the world.
