Selecting Asagi
Judge the following three koi. Click on your choice for first place and see how you did.
First Place: A This koi is almost a definitive example of an Asagi. In addition to this koi having excellent conformation, it is probably not a young koi, yet still it retains a youthful and inspiring appearance. The almost perfect conformation is enhanced by perfect scalation which runs totally unstained the entire length of the Koi. The gleaming powerful head complements the entire effect even to matching eye shadow and lipstick! both of which are almost perfectly symmetrical. The motoguro hi is balanced although appears a little pasty and tired which gives us perhaps the only clue to the Koi's age. The only demerit we can find are the matching hiccups in the perfect scale reticulation on the rear quartile of both sides of the Koi.
Second Place: B This Asagi is almost great but not quite. The koi is clearly a mature Asagi but compared with "A" gives a good indication of which has weathered the years better and also gives us a clear insight into what a really supberb mature Asagi should look like. Scale reticulation is good and resonably consitent along the length of the body with a few, but overall acceptable, deviations. The conformation at a glance is imposing. Pleasing motroguro hi in the pectoral fins, dorsal and tail is a nice color, the hi below the lateral line is just too stretched.
Third Place: C This Koi has none of the attributes of the first place Koi or the second place Koi. It does have fairly consistent reticulation but it is spoilt by appearing "foggy" and stained. Messy pasty hi is not recovered. The head staining is a major problem which does nothing to help the scale reticulation close to the head which is also stained. Close examination of the nearside lower midriff area begins to set off alarm bells.