they are beautiful and an excellent capture. I bet they followed you around want food?

Charmer and magnificent capture!. Very, very pretty!!!

These are some freaky fish. I remember dining at a restaurant in Thailand that had this pond in the middle, and from that pond small "creeks" ran. They then ran around the restaurant so no matter where you sat, youd have these steroid pumping goldfishes staring up at you. Awesome capture. #:O)

excellent!

WOW. Excellent shot. You got a great shot of the water and turbulance around the fish heads !!! Outstanding work !!!!

Excellent shot, Eric! Must be a really cool garden. (Gotta love Andreas' description of them as steroid pumping goldfish. Hahahaha!)

Perfect picture--great moment in time captured -rich and inviting texture -color and POV !

Very nice pic.

sompen' fishy goin' on 'round here!!! haha... great shot!!!! hope all is well!!! Joe

I just got some shots of these this past weekend at the Morikami Japanese Gardens near my home. Notoriously tough to photography with their constant motion and the reflections of the water, you could fill up a 1MG memory card quite easily and still not have a good shot. This one is awsome, way to go Eric! Text for Hopalong: Nishikigoi (Koi) have been called the national fish of Japan. Hundreds of years ago in the mountains of Niigata, the farmers in the village of Yamakoshi noticed a red carp swimming among the black carp that they raised to supplement their diet of rice and vegetables. Through the years and through selective breeding, Japanese breeders have created the over 100 named varieties of Nishikigoi that we see today. Nishikigoi are available in sizes anywhere from four inches to over three feet long and can be kept in a wide variety of situations, from small aquariums to large outdoor ponds. Today, Nishikigoi are bred not only in their place of origin, Niigata, but all over Japan, and are exported all over the world. Nishikigoi continue to gain worldwide popularity as the ultimate pond or garden fish. As Nishikigoi were developed in Japan, the language of Nishikigoi is Japanese. Japanese is used not only to name the varieties, but also for many of the terms used to describe their colors and traits. Records of common carp date back about 2500 years. Color mutations from the basic black carp (known as Magoi) started to be developed only about 200 years ago, with most of the beautiful varieties that we know today as nishikigoi being established around the beginning of this century. Here is a very brief guide to the different varieties: 1. Kohaku , white koi with red (hi, pronounced 'he' ) markings. Probably the most common variety. The hi should be deep red with well defined edges (kiwa) where it meets the white which should be pure and bright. A tancho kohaku is a white koi with a red spot on its head. An inazuma kohaku has a continuous red marking from the head to the tail, but with variation (inazuma means 'lightning strike'). A nidan (two) kohaku has two red markings, a sandan (three) kohaku has three red markings, and a yondan (four) kohaku has four red markings. 2. Taisho sanke (known as sanke), hi (red) and sumi (black) on a white background. A maruten sanke has a separate red spot on the head with normal markings on the body. A tancho sanke has a red spot on the head and a white body with black markings. 3. Showa sanshoku (known as showa), red and white markings on a black background. A hi showa is a predominantly red showa. A kindai showa has a predominantly white pattern. A tancho showa has a red spot on the head and a black body with white markings. 4. Bekko are white, red or yellow koi with black (sumi) markings. Shiro bekko is a white koi with black markings. Aka bekko is a red koi with black markings (aka is another word for red). Ki bekko is a yellow koi with black markings (rare variety). 5. Utsurimono are often confused with bekko but are mostly black with white, red or yellow markings. Shiro utsuri is a black koi with white markings. Hi utsuri is black with red markings. Ki utsuri is black with yellow markings (rare variety). 6. Asagi are blue-grey koi with red along the sides and belly and in the fins. 7. Shusui are doitsu koi (koi with scales along dorsal and lateral lines only). They are blue-grey with dark blue scales along the dorsal and lateral lines and red on the sides and fins. 8. Koromo literally means 'robed'. This describes the hi pattern, outlined in a darker colour, which varies with the variety. Ai goromo is a kohaku whose scales have blue borders. Sumi goromo have solid black on the hi markings. Budo goromo have sumi overlaying the hi giving a purple/maroon colour. 9. Kawarimono accomodates all non-metallic koi that do not fall into the above groups : Karasugoi is a black koi with white or orange belly. Hajiro is a black koi with white tips to its tail and pectoral fins. Hageshiro is a black koi with white tips to its fins and white head and nose. Kumonryu is a doitsu koi which is black with white markings on its head, fins and body. Aka matsuba is a red koi with black centres to its scales, creating a pine cone effect. Ki matsuba as above but yellow. Shiro matsuba as above but white. Goshiki are white, red, black, blue and dark blue, giving a purplish appearance. Kigoi is a yellow koi. Chagoi is a light brown/olive koi. Soragoi is a blue-grey koi. Midorigoi is a green koi. Benigoi is a deep red koi. Shiro muji is a white koi, aka muji is a red koi. Ochiba shigure is blue-grey with a brown pattern.

Ah! Familiar territory I see :-) Koi! You want to be careful of these dudes, they can give you a really nasty suck :-) Viscious, they are! Glad you managed to keep the surface reflections down to give a clear, detailed view of these magnificent creatures...

I think I like this one best so far, well done.

Okoi Dokoi Fish. Soiperbly caught.

Fish Music Two standing on a bridge: "Consider the happiness of fishes." "How do you know whether fish are happy or not?" "How do you know what I know and do not know?"

More fishies!!! Yay!!!! :-D Love this shot! Now I want a koi fishie pond. And someone to come and build it for me. lol.

excellent photograph of these babies..!!!!

I like this the best so far. Just like the way the water flows over the colorful creatures. My experience with these fish, well I think I got bit once. Did you use a polarizing filter? I always like to use them for water shots to keep the reflections down, and it looks like the reflections in this image may be muted too. Excellent!

Great photo shot! You did an excellent job!

Stunning capture! Bravo!

Eric, this is brilliant! Care to share it as a jigsaw puzzle? Wow, awesome snapshot!!!

Very good photo and love the kissing koi! Okay, I know!!! HUGS!!!!

loving the whole series, this is a nice addition!

very cool shot here. wonder how they taste? do people still eat them. I can see my guesses If I put a plate of these out. Guess it be ok if I wish to not have them over again. his is a very cool shot and i love the colors

Fantastic fishy frolics, they look really cheecky and about to squirt your camera with water !!! kool capture Eric cheers

Excellent shot& Kois

WOW ! oh mann i just attempted a shot like this today and didnt get so lucky ... it didnt come out half as good lol the fish went back down ... beautiful photography !!

wiping the water off my computer screen...lol...great shot!

Superb Eric !

Great shot, and such detail. I'll admit, I laughed at the "Don't be Koi" joke. :)