| Home | Back to Goldfish |
The jikin, also known as the peacock-tail, has a divided tail which is splayed outwards. It is one of the most difficult varieties to breed to the standard. This fish was developed in Japan from the wakin.
The body is slightly shorter than that of the common goldfish, with a varying anterior dorsal contour (some fish having a slightly concave contour, others having the normal body contour of the common goldfish). The body colour is silver-white only, with red lips; although red is tolerated on the gill covers and on the underside (not visible when seen from above, which is how the fish are judged in Japan), red colouration anywhere else is a fault.
The finnage is similar to that of the common goldfish and the wakin, apart from the tail which is completely divided and splayed outwards (hence the name peacock tail); the anal fin is also divided. All the fins are red; any lack of red colouration in the fins is a fault.
The nacreous form is known as the edojikin.
The jikin standard (published in 2016) is as follows:
The fish should be bright and alert. The body should be strong and sturdy with a smooth outline.
The caudal fin should be held vertically, fully divided and well spread, opening to near 90 degrees to the body when the fish is at rest; it should appear as an ‘X shape’ when viewed from the rear with all four lobes evenly matched. The caudal peduncle should be short, not elongated.
The colour should be metallic variegated red and white only. The snout, dorsal, pectoral, ventral, anal and caudal fins should be solid red. The body should be white. Red elsewhere on the body is to be discouraged and will be down-pointed.
Ideal profiles are illustrated below:
|
|
Photographed in London, October 2005
 |
 |
Prize winning jikins shown at GSGB 2005, featured further in the photographs below.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Near-perfect specimen, lacking red colouration in a few places in the finnage and with no unwanted red colouration on the body. The vertical view shows the outwards-splayed double tail and the double anal fins; ideally, the top lobes of the tail would be splayed wider open like the bottom lobes.
 |
 |
A very good fish, longer in the body than the individuals above and below, with a few patches of white finnage that ideally would be red. This fish has red lips and gill covers, although the colouration on the latter is incomplete (ideally the whole gill cover would be red).
 |
 |
Smaller, shorter fish, showing the double anal fins in the right-hand picture. Shown at GSGB 2005.