水上漫步

原文轉載於「Flare (Journal of the IBC) - September/October 2007, Volume 41, No. 2」期刊。我簡單翻譯說明。

It was the selective breeding of Guy Delaval (France) in the 80s, with fish originating petshops, Paris Jones (USA) and Peter Goettner (USA),  which gave rise to bettas with an increased caudal spread (up to 180 degrees). Since the cover of FAMA magazine in 1993 showed a picture of a turquoise halfmoon (HM) male, which was bred by the international CHENMASWIL partnership consisting of Laurent Chenot (France), Rajiv Massilamoni (Switserland) and Jeff Wilson (USA), the D-shaped caudal conquered the betta-world! In the years to follow the HMs were further perfected leading to the standard we know today. This development also had its effect on the evolution of other tailtypes. Nowadays the standards of both singletail as doubletail fish ideally describe a D-shaped caudal. But keep in mind that there is more than only the caudal and that the ideal HM is characterized by an overall balance which can be captured in a circle.

這隻鬥魚是八零年代，由法國人Guy繁殖出來的。在1993年國際組織的雜誌評選中，牠獲得「最佳表現」，從此180度的D字型尾鰭，建立了標準，也開創風潮，可見展鬥的發展歷史是很短的。後來不只尾型，飼育者開始追求整體的均衡，甚至全身要接近一個圓型(如下圖)。

For many years traditional plakats were the only type seen at betta shows but the HM fever also led to the evolution of the shortfinned tailtype. Crossing longfinned HMs to traditional PKs led to the development of the halfmoon plakat (HMPK). Like the traditional PK, the form of the HMPK is asymmetrical but combining traits of both traditional PKs and HMs. In 2005 the IBC officially distinguished (asymmetrical) traditional PKs and asymmetrical show PKs by creating a separate standard for both forms. Both standards show great overlap but differ in two essential points: the caudal and dorsal finnage.

When breeding longfinned HMs the ultimate goal is a fish with a balanced appearance, isn’t it therefore strange that the standard for HM PKs was describing an asymmetrical fish? Logically, the increasing interest in show plakats lead to the development of another type of PK, the symmetrical PK, the shortfinned equivalent of the longfinned HM also often reffered to as “shortmoon”. The IBC responded on this trend by the development of a trail standard and can be considered to be the shortfinned variant of the standard used for longfinned HMs.

在半月(HM)的發展下，也有出現短鰭基因的HM，叫HMPK。在與原始的PK相交下，產生多樣貌的PK。因此2005年IBC國際生物倫理委員會正式的，找出這兩種PK中間的某種型態，定義了PK標準。基本的辨識就是臀鰭、尾鰭與背鰭的互不對稱(整體看來不是一個正圓或半圓)。

但很奇怪，這種PK的不對稱，不是違背大家追求整體均衡的目標嗎？所以慢慢的又發展成：用HM來培育出對稱型的PK，也就是，背鰭、尾鰭到臀鰭會形成一個圓弧線。後來，IBC已接受這種做法，認同那是標準範圍內的演進。

我們現在看到的PK，有大量的不對稱型、少量的對稱型，還有過渡型，其實都深受HM的影響。