#wakin

In any case, I'm grateful I met you, Michael. I'll always love you, I'll always be proud of you, I'll always wish you the best. I wish I could see you again, but if I cannot, then my love for you won't perish. I'll hold out to find you in our next life.

—W. A. 🐇🏳️‍⚧️

Brought to you by a marine biologist and another we’ve done already...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

I’m totally fine doing fish we have kind of done already. I just hope none of ya are bored. Writing one of these only scratches the surface of information about that animal, and I try to pick a trait or behavior that I can expand on in general. Believe it or not, it’s only gotten *slightly* more difficult to find something to talk about in general...or maybe I just find every fish wonderful. Who knows...

Anyway, today I will cover two fish at a time because they are the same fish - the Red and the Black Wakin Goldfish!

The name is actually pronounced “WAH-keen”, for those of you like me and haven’t been pronouncing this right. *Heh* Anyway, these are yet again Pocket Camp fishies that appeared for the Fishing Tourney. They both appeared in Fishing Tourney #29 in August 2020, but only the Red Wakin returned in September 2021 for Fishing Tourney #42. Who knows, maybe the black will make it back someday, too.

Now, these guys are goldfish, and we’ve covered the other goldfish that appear in ACNH before. I covered them all at once back in 2020 (where do the years go, I swear), because those - the goldfish, the popeye, ranchu, and now these wakin - are all the same species of carp -  Carassius auratus. Goldfish come in over 200 breeds, some normal-looking and well-adjusted, and some that are basically genetic monsters, how does this thing live??? - just like dogs!

Pic from Bristol Aquarists.

Goldfish were first domesticated and bred for their ornamental value in China, and China did not just keep them to themselves. At some point, China introduced the goldfish to Japan, and it is Japan where the Wakin - and a few other breeds - originate. 

At first glance, the Wakin looks more like the well-adjusted goldfish than really any of the others that appear in AC, until you find out they have two tails. This genetic mutation is splits the caudal peduncle and each half grows a caudal/tail fin. These double-tail varieties are called “fancy” and all double-tail fancy breeds were bred from the Wakin. They look beautiful when viewed from above, which tracks when you consider these fish were specifically bred to be pond-dwellers (in which you always view them from above the water’s surface and not from the side like in a regular glass tank. They can also get quite large, so they really are for the pond and NOT for tanks. 

As we covered last time we spoke about goldfish, please, oh please, treat these darlings with more respect. They do NOT live in bowls, especially large breeds like the Wakin. That would be like locking a German Shephard in a half bathroom...and then not cleaning up the dog poop for a month or two. It’s cruel.

How you see him: