Former World Record Koi

I haven’t been able to find a photo of the current record koi, if you can, let us know!

Former world record Koi 20lbs 8oz

Random Koi Facts

• There are more then 20 varieties of koi.

• Koi have been accidentally or deliberately released into the wild in every continent except Antarctica.

• Koi can live to be 30 years old. They can reach lengths in excess of 1m and at this length will weigh up to 12 kg. Bigger Koi are rare but not unknown especially in Japan.

• Koi are directly related to carp – they are the same species. Koi are selectively bred carp from a natural anomaly first discovered and developed in Japan, from where all things Koi emanate. The Japanese are the best breeders of Koi in the world by a substantial margin.

• In Japan, you can take classes to become a koi master.

More facts about koi found at Happy Koi.

Fish Robotics

Newlaunches.com has created a list of the Top 5 Robots of 2006, naming Mitsubishi’s robotic fish as number two. Mounted with a CCD camera, these aquatic robotic creatures will be used in the future to help us uncover the secrets below the surface of the worlds oceans.

“The robot is modeled after a Nishiki koi carp as a form of tribute to Hiroshima Castle (whose nickname Ri-jo means Koi Castle). The 80-cm (31-inch), 12-kg (26-pound) fish has a white body with bright red spots. Though the tail movement is very smooth and lifelike, the remote-controlled koi is capable of moves that a genuine koi is unable to perform, such as swimming in reverse and rotating in place.”

via Pink Tentacle

While impressive, this is not the first time we have seen robotic fish. The London Aquarium featured autonomous robot fish over a year ago as one of their technology exhibits.

If you like robtic fish, check out the videos on YouTube.

Cool Fish Tattoos

Shannon posted some cool fish tattoos to modblog last night. The chopped up Koi fish is amazing!

Modblog (NSFW) is a blog dedicated to all types of body modification (tattoos, piercings, and more). You can also check out the nature themed tattoos gallery at BMEzine.

More Koi Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon 5D. Which is very impressive! You can see that big flathead catfish in the last picture. The rest of the pictures can be found in the previous entry.

Food, Football, & Fishing

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there, and I suppose a belated one to the Canadians. My trip to Santa Cruz was long and occasionally frustrating, the waiting not the flying. I think the biggest annoyance on the trip was that Dallas Fort Worth Airport has big screen Samsung TVs playing CNN Headline news everywhere, literally everywhere, and because there was apparently no headline news they repeated the same broadcast every 15 minutes.

Im still hoping that we make it out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but imagine my surprise when I arrived and I found a huge Koi pond in the front yard. I’ve been out walking around a bit this morning, mostly enjoying the mountain air and staring up in to the huge trees, everything I can’t find in La Paz. So I figured that I would share some photos, I haven’t gotten a good picture of it yet, but there is an albino Flathead Catfish in the pond thats pushing 15-20 pounds. Maybe after dinner I’ll go noodling.

Continue reading “Food, Football, & Fishing”…