In an auction in Japan, a red and white koi fish sold for a record $1.9 million dollars. This dubbed the transaction and the fish to be “The World’s Most Expensive Fish”. The koi fish was purchased by a collector in Taiwan for $1.3 million more than the previous world record holder. The fish’s name is S Legend and of the Kohaku variety. Watch the full story in the video below.
You can visit the breeder’s website here: Sakai Fish Farm
Koi fish can produce up to 500,000 eggs of which no more than 5,000 will be the right quality to put up for sale. So this is not just some cray cray fish keeper type of sale.
The koi fish business is extremely lucrative. So what makes a koi fish so special that it would sell for over a million dollars? Their coloring and lineage. It’s actually very similar to dog breeding. So they have koi fish shows/competitions which – if your fish wins – makes them more valuable and your line more valuable.
The koi fish is a type of carp fish. Originally they were raised in Japan in the 1700s. During that time period, rice farmers would breed them for their distinct colors and patterns. Since then we now look at may variables in order to determine whether or not a particular koi fish is a “prized koi fish”. For example, the appearance of healthy skin, size, body shape, how gracefully it moves in the water and of course the most important trait: It’s coloring.
The best/most expensive koi fish have a good balance of colors and patterns according to their variety. For example, there are koi with light blue spots, ones with large red patches on their backs, or all-metallic gold. These tend to be the most expensive koi fish. The better looking the fish, the more the buyer is willing to pay for it.