"Steve in 236" wrote in message
rthlink.net...

"Renes Smither" wrote in message
...
Steve,

If you download the picture by right clicking on it it can then be
opened
in
MS Paint or whatever JPG editor you have on your PC. The real image is
quite
large and hi-res, and is 440KB in size. I just put the site up in
geocitees
as my news provider does not host the binaries groups. I would be very
interested in your opinion.

Regards,

Renes

Renes,

I viewed the picture with MS paint and I'm changing my mind. You've run
headlong into a wonderful lesson on natural selection. What you have are
nice, plump "brassies". Brassies are the common goldfish (Carrasius
auratus) that have been born with a more natural brass coloration. A
millenia or two ago, almost all goldfish were that color. The Chinese
started the aquarium hobby by hand selecting the few brightly colored fish
out of their food ponds and raising them in ceramic pots. At one time
someone introduced ornamental goldfish to the pond and they spawned, and
genetics being what they are this led to a mix of colors in the offspring.
Obviously, being a flaming orange color is not the best tactic in the
natural world. Predators have picked off all of the brightly colored
goldfish in the pond, leaving the better camoflaged ones. This could
easily
happen in one generation.


Thanks Steve, this makes a lot of sense in view of what I know about the
pond and the previous owner. Also we have a visiting heron who has probably
been the evolutionary driving factor.

All the best,

Renes