It's called a tancho kohaku. A kohaku is a white fish with red markings and this particular variety is named after the tancho crane which is a white bird with a red mark on it's head. The Japanese go crazy for anything that resembles their national flag (see Hinomoru CRS). They're pretty rare in part because they can't be bred, they're almost like a genetic defect in a way. The red mark can have varying degrees of quality. The more centered on the head and the rounder and crisper the better. This one's pretty high grade. I hunted over a year for this guy and bought him back when he was about 12 inches and I had money. Japanese-bred koi always fetch high dollar as opposed to domestic bred. Two or three inches later he's still swimming strong (pretty certain it's a he).





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