Koi Chart - Koi Types

Some of the major colors you will find on koi are white, red, black, blue, yellow, and cream.

Koi variations are for the most part seemingly limitless, breeders have identified and named a number of specific categories. The most popular category is Gosanke. The Gosanke category is made up of the Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku, Sanshoku and Showa varieties. The Japanese breeders have been breeding koi for many generations so they have a vast knowledge base when it comes to raising and breeding Nishikigoi. They can easily identify what type of koi will be worth hundreds of dollars and which ones will be worth many thousands of dollars. At auction koi it has been found that one koi by itself sold for in excess of $500,000 dollars "half a million dollars".

The major named varieties of koi include:

• Kohaku—a white-skinned koi, with a red pattern
• Taisho Sanshoku (Sanke)—a white-skinned koi with a red and black pattern
• Showa Sanshoku (Showa)—a black-skinned koi with a red and white pattern
• Tancho—Any koi with the only red being in a circle on its forehead. The fish can be a Tancho Showa, Tancho Sanke, or even Tancho Goshiki
• Asagi—a koi with light blue scales on its top and red scales on its bottom
• Shusui—the partially scaled version of an Asagi
• Bekko—a white, red, or yellow-skinned koi with a black pattern
• Utsurimono—a black koi with a red, white, or yellow pattern
• Goshiki—a mostly black koi with red, white, brown, and blue accents
• Ogon—a koi that is one solid color, can be regular or metallic; known colors - red, orange, platinum, yellow and cream
• Kin Gin Rin—a koi with shiny scales. The name translates into English as "gold silver scales" There are also Gin Rin versions of almost any other type of koi.
• Kawarimono (kawarigoi)—Miscellaneous types of koi
• Doitsu-goi—German carp
• Koromo—Koi with areas of blue-edged scales aligned neatly
• Hikari-Moyomono—Koi with colored patterns over a metallic base, and koi in two metallic colors
• Ghost koi—"Hybrid" of Ogon and wild carp. Not Nishikigoi.
• Butterfly koi—Long-finned version of all others. Not Nishikigoi.