| Nishikigoi, or koi are the national fish of Japan. Nishiki is the Japanese word used to describe a highly colored cloth. Goi or koi is the Japanese name for carp. Together, therefore Nishikigoi means colored carp. Iran is thought to be the ancestral home of the common carp, form which koi were first developed. Carp is an excellent food which brought to Japan, China and Western Europe by traders about a thousand years ago. These common carp was mutated in new colors, which resulted in the developement on new varieties. |
