1930/05/03 by Dorothy E. Sladden · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Fish Biology and Ecology Studies #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Fish biology, ecology, and behavior #Spawn (biology) #Yolk #Amphibian #Biology #Zoology #Anatomy #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.1930.0031
openalex publication_date 1930/05/03 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract In 1908, Tornier published a paper (1) on the probable causes of the formation of the abnormal “fancy” races of goldfish. All these races originated in China where the wild ancestor (Carausius auratus) still abounds in the streams, It had been supposed that these races were produced by a secret process known only to the Chinese breeders. The fish during winter were kept crowded in earthenware pots, on shelves in dark and insanitary huts; in summer they were transferred to small and filthy tanks overgrown with weeds. In these tanks they spawned and much of the spawn perished; amongst the fraction which survived, however, all sorts of abnormalities were found. By selecting the most striking of these, the breeders secured the parents of their “fancy’’ breeds, which showed in every succeeding generation a strong tendency to revert to the normal; only by the most rigid selection was anything like a “pure” race obtained. Tornier drew the conclusion that the abnormalities were due to the effects of lack of oxygen in very early stages of development. This lack induced what he called “plasma-weakness” in different parts of the formative area of the very young embryo. In consequence of these localised areas of weakness the protoplasmic part of the egg was liable to mechanical distortion, induced by abnormal pressure from the yolk; the latter absorbed water and swelled, thus crushing and destroying the protoplasmic structures from which the future organs of the adult are formed.