3,000 Fishy Beauties Vie For 'World Goldfish Queen' Title

A goldfish is a goldfish is a goldfish right? Wrong, say some experts in China and to prove their point they organized a pageant dedicated entirely to these tiny beauties. Held on Saturday, September 15th, 2012, in Fuzhou a city in the Fujian Province, the first International Goldfish Championship attracted 3,000 contestants from 14 countries ranging from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, all the way to Brazil.

Unlike normal beauty pageants, contestants were not asked to strut around in swimsuits and evening gowns, nor, asked questions about how they would solve the world's woes. Instead, they were all displayed in the same-size white bowls of water so that they could be judged solely by their natural looks.

So what was the panel of judges that went around observing each contestant carefully looking for? According to head judge Ye Qichang, five things - breed, body shape, color, overall impression and swimming gesture, which normally means how new goldfish introduce themselves to other goldfish. However, in this case since they were swimming solo, only the judges knew what that really meant.

And, while looks were important, it was the weight that the judges got most impressed by - The more nicely rounded the contestant was, the better, because that apparently is a sign that it had not suffered any major hardship or illness during breeding.

While the winner of the coveted title of World Goldfish Queen will be revealed on Saturday, September 22nd, 2012, at the Fuzhou Strait International Conference and Exhibition Center, the judges did say they were inclining toward a rare 3.9 pound giant beauty that was observed swimming around its fishbowl with amazing grace.

Resources: Huffingtonpost.com, odditycentral.com