Goldfish Culling - Scale Types By Dave Mandley (2/4)

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Bluebelly fish are metallic fish that carry a transparency gene. The gene is a simple recessive. The metallic scales have a net like transparent edge as described by Dr. Matsui. The eyes are shoe button with a small or broken iris. The name bluebelly comes from the blue cast to the abdomen. I discovered that the color comes from enlarged blue scales in the peritoneal cavity side walls. This feature can help you distinguish the blue belly from a pinkie matte. Blue bellies can be matte like in appearance or have guanine deposits below the lateral line and metallic scales on the abdomen. The transparent scale allows for light reflection of the flesh and from the scale itself giving a different hue to its color. A good bluebelly fish has in the center of its scale a silver deposit of guanine. This makes it very reflective. The operculum can be slight to fully transparent. Blue bellies are like true metallic in that they demelonize and can come in all colors. A white bluebelly a pinkie matte and a white nacreous are extremely difficult to tell apart. Many an expert have been fooled in my fish room.

Blue bluebelly
9Good example of a bluebelly with abdomen scales
10A white bluebelly that looks like a pinkie matte-
11-12two white bluebellies
2A pinkie matte that looks like a white bluebelly
19A red bluebelly

The Mock Metallic is the blue belly fish of the nacreous group. Like the metallic in a nacreous spawn the mock usually does not carry the demelanizing gene and produces different results when bred to other variants than a bluebelly would. The mock has almost no transparent scales an almost solid look and non visible blue abdomen. Mocks bred to blue bellies usually produce all brown/olive fish with a 50/50 split on transparency scales and guanine. When you use a mock metallic in a nacreous spawn you are introducing the non demelonizing gene to the spawn and introducing a second transparent gene. The mock is used to enhance color usually in a Bristol spawn, in actuality you are allowing more flesh to be viewed and less metallic luster, a mock does not usually have the center scale of silver guanine and thus is some times flat or dull in appearance. Only experienced breeders should use these variants.

13.Typical mock dull uncolored scales
14.White colored bluebelly/mock hybrid with reflective scales
15.Sunburst mytrademark fish I developed
16,17,20,23,34,35 are all mocks of different colors