Roach are among the most common fish in the freshwaters of England, but golden specimens caught in the wild are extremely rare; a letter reporting such a catch from the Ribble appeared in the Fishing Gazette, dated September 19 1931, and the auctioneers could not find any records of a more recent catch.
Natural selection is the most convincing argument for their scarcity; normal roach with dull silver scales are snapped up in vast quantities by larger, carnivorous fish such as pike, and this variant with bright orange colouring would have presented an even more appetising target. “As a consequence this colour mutation was probably kept to a minimum in the wild,” said auctioneer Chris Hewitt. The golden roach owe their unusual complexion to xanthochroism, a condition in which only the red and yellow pigments are developed in certain fish. In artificial environments, like aquaria, this condition has been commonly bred for decorative effect in tench, orfe and carp, but in the wild it is thought that only the burbot has eluded capture for longer than the golden roach.
Expertly mounted by fish taxidermist’s Cooper and Sons in a gilt-lined bowed case, 19in by 111/2in (48 x 29cm) the fish fetched £1000 (plus 15 per cent premium) from a collector – more than twice the sum expected for a standard roach by the same maker.
Another cursed by the Midas Touch
UK: WHAT is so extraordinary about a stuffed fish, you might ask? Well, in the annals of piscatoria, they do not come much rarer than this golden roach – taken from the River Frays on October 8, 1911 and offered at Phillips Bayswater on February 20, 2001.
