Celestial eye goldfish or Choten gan is a double-tailed breed of fancy goldfish that has a breed-defining pair of telescope eyes which are turned upwards, pupils gazing skyward. When the fry hatch, the eyes of young Celestials are normal but gradually protrude sideways, as in the Telescope eye goldfish, and then turn upwards within a period of six months.
Celestials first appeared as a direct mutation of the Telescope goldfish in the 18th century. Competing traditions lay claim as to exactly where this happened first, Korea or China.
The first documentation that Celestials existed appears on a Chinese scroll of 1772, where a goldfish lacking a dorsal fin and possessing protuberant upturned eyes is depicted. Celestials did not arrive in Japan until 1903 when thirty specimens arrived from China and became the foundation stock for Japanese breeders. Japan quickly became the leading producer of Celestials for export. This remained so until the outbreak of World War II.
Celestials arrived in the United States from Japan in the first decade of the twentieth century and were included in the first edition of William T. Innes's GOLDFISH VARIETIES AND TROPICAL AQUARIUM FISHES in 1917.
American fanciers successfully bred the fish and, in turn, exported foundation stock to Great Britain, where there is a small but devoted band of breeders propagating the fish to this day. After World War II, and ever since, the vast majority of Celestials exported from Asia are of Chinese origin. A Celestial goldfish is depicted on a postage stamp issued in 1960 by the People's Republic of China.
