Featured on PDR in the collection Gilded Fish: Illustrations from Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine (1780)

Goldfish have had a poor reputation over the last century or two. They’ve been casual prizes at fairground games; the lesser alternative to puppies or kittens; and idiomatically (and incorrectly) accused of having limited memory capacity. It was not always so. Goldfish were once prized pets, coveted by emperors and nobles, exotic symbols of good luck. But anything can lose its shine if it’s easily attainable — and that was the goldfish’s undoing.