"The Chinese lettered goldfish is covered with Chinese characters, achieved through thousands of years of crossbreeding"
Accessing an
internet search engine and typing in the exact words of the
node title will give you this information, present in more than ten different "trivia" sites across the
net. The
words and their
ordering varies, but what remains constant thoughout is the
name given to the
fish and the fact that the
result has been
achieved through
crossbreeding.
-Unless the ancient Chinese had nucleic plasma genetic engineering technology, this is not possible.
When discussing the
goldfish, this
comment was
carelessly placed in the
Chatterbox for anyone to pick up. Let us
evaluate the
evidence for and against the
existence of the
Chinese Lettered Goldfish.
For:
More than
ten different
internet trivia sites claim that it
exists.
Against:
No
site actually devoted to
goldfish mentions these
bizarre creatures. No site that sells
goldfish (expensive
specimens cost in
excess of $400, march 2001) refers to these
creatures, where they can be purchased or where
they can be seen. Check out
www.goldfishconnection.com for a good example of this.
No encyclopedia I have looked in (4, including
Encyclopedia Brittanica mentions this strange
critter anywhere. Neither does any
fish book or
scientific journal I could find.
Several
biologist and
genetic researchers I asked said that they "do not
believe such a
thing is
possible today" and that "it was most
certainly not possible previous to
Mendels discoveries on heritage in
breeding.
-I own one of them with Chinese cooking recipes on the side.
-Salmon?
-No, red herring.
(Mofaha, who also posted a fake picture of said fish on www.theSlink.com/fish/)