My chief expectation...... is to be surprised
Shiro's are a tough nut for anyone to crack, and this is our first attempt at the real thing.. (the two we have now are flock spawned pond mutts
)
We're HOPING the sumi will recede slowly as we enter summer/fall, with growth expanding the shiroji. Looking for good motoguro development as the fin sumi recedes, and our highest expectation is to wind up with a female displaying a strong Checkerboard pattern. I hope for the facial sumi to contract about 50%, leaving a thick lipstick and a nice memware.
The fins are well sized and nicely rounded, which helps with the female impression. There were some others that had a bulkier frame, but the body conformation on this one seemed very clean and evenly thick from gills to tail.
What I find most appealing is the apparent texture of the skin. Even though there isn't a lot of shiro showing, what is visible has a nice silky translucent sheen to it rather than the white cotton look of some of the others. If you look at the shoulder area closely the shiroji and the sumi behind the head have a very nice luster. The sumi almost looks too good at this age, kind of like fresh shinola, which would normally make me think of a fast finishing male. In this case I have high hopes it is just strong baby sumi on very high quality skin.