Comet Goldfish, Main

COMET

Good comets seem to be rare these days, having been more popular 10-20 years ago; not many are presented at shows now. Comets need pointed tail lobes, as in an open pair of scissors, and the tail and its carriage are the most important features of the type. They are fast swimmers and do well in ponds.

Comets were probably first produced in USA (or possibly in Europe). They are known as swallowtails in the Far East.

THE STANDARD

The comet standard is as follows:

Depth of body to be between 3/7ths and 3/8ths of body length
Pectoral and pelvic fins to be paired, dorsal and anal fins to be single
Caudal fin to be single, deeply forked and well spread
Length of dorsal lobe of caudal fin to be greater than 3/4 of body length
Extremities of fins to have a pointed appearance
At least 25% of the body to be blue in calico fish
Minimum body length to be 7.5 cm (3 inches)

The fish should be bright and alert with the caudal fin carried high without drooping or overlapping. The body should be long and slender with a smooth outline. Quality fish will have high colour intensity extending into the fins.

The colour may be metallic (self-coloured or variegated in a pleasing pattern and similar on each side) or calico. Metallic colours should appear as burnished metal, extending into the fins. Calico fish should have a blue background with patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black.

Ideal profiles are illustrated below:

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THE FISH

Mature adults, self-coloured red metallic

Red comet shown at BAS 2004.

Red comet shown at BAS 2001.

Mature adults, self-coloured yellow metallic

Self-coloured metallic yellow comets are less common than reds. The top fish was shown at BAS 2007, the centre fish at BAS 2004 and the bottom fish (the camera caught the fish with tail folded) at BAS 1999.