Medaka Varieties, Explained

Start with the word medaka itself

Medaka is written with characters meaning roughly high eyes, which is exactly what you see looking at one: the eyes sit high on the head, because this is a fish built to live at the surface of rice paddies and slow ditches. The species is Oryzias latipes, the Japanese rice fish, and every fancy variety below is the same friendly species wearing different paint. My introduction to medaka covers the species itself.

The big shine words

Miyuki is the famous one: an iridescent, metallic stripe of shine running along the top of the back. In a modest fish it is a glint at the tail base; in a great one it is a solid glowing band from head to tail, which keepers call a full body Miyuki. My Blue Miyuki line is this type, and that back-shine seen from above is the whole reason medaka are best viewed from the top. Where the name came from is told a few different ways in the hobby, so I will not repeat any one story as fact. What matters when buying is the shine and how far it extends.

Lame (from the French lamé, the sparkly fabric) means glitter: individual scales that catch light like sequins scattered over the body. Shine down the back is Miyuki; sparkle across the scales is lame. A fish can carry both. My Pearl Galaxy line shows this scattered-glitter look.

The big color words

Youkihi is the celebrated orange-red type, and this name has a story worth telling because it is well documented: it is the Japanese rendering of Yang Guifei, a Tang-dynasty consort remembered as one of the great beauties of Chinese history. Naming an orange fish after her tells you how the Japanese hobby feels about a good Youkihi. Mine is here.

Orochi is the deepest black type, whose name is the Japanese word for a great serpent. What makes Orochi special is not just being black; many dark medaka fade pale on light backgrounds or indoors, and Orochi lines were bred to hold their black regardless. If you have read my Orochi listing, that is why I make a fuss about it.

Sanshoku means three colors: white, orange-red, and black in patches, deliberately echoing the look of prized koi. Pattern varies fish to fish, so no two sanshoku are alike, which is the charm. My Tricolor line is my sanshoku.

Body-type words are a different axis

Hikari (light) and Daruma (the round doll) describe body shape, not color, and any color can appear in any body type. That distinction confuses more beginners than anything else in medaka naming, so I wrote a whole guide on it: Normal, Hikari, and Daruma, including why I choose not to breed Daruma.

Why the US names don't match the Japanese names

Here is the part nobody tells beginners: American sellers, myself included, often market fish under trade names. My Red King, Amber Rainbow, and Champagne Gold are names chosen to describe what you see, not formal Japanese line names. There is nothing shady about that, a name that tells you what the fish looks like is doing real work, but it does mean the same underlying type can wear different names at different shops.

That is exactly why the vocabulary above is worth learning. Once you know that shine down the back means Miyuki-type, glitter means lame, deep non-fading black means Orochi-type, and koi patching means sanshoku, you can read any listing anywhere, ignore the marketing name, and understand the fish underneath. It is also how you compare prices fairly between sellers.

A quick decoder table