Barbels

[Sangreaal]

Are barbels considered in the judging/assessment of show quality koi? Placement, length, number...anything?

[dick benbow]

For a show fish the only criteria is that they need to have them. from a hobbyist standpoint i remember over the years losing a few in injuries
and hopeing and praying they'd grow back. One actually did!

[Sangreaal]

Hmmmm.... Alrightie then. So if a koi has extra barbels, she won't be disqualified? Or loooonger than norm barbels?

Thanks Dick

Reason I'm asking is that my Hi Utsuri has an extra barbel and it got me to wondering... I hadn't noticed it for a long time, but when I was working with some images of Blurt I noticed she had 5 of them.

[gregbickal]

Extra Barbels are coooool....

[dick benbow]

I've never heard of a koi being disqualified for having an odd number or a longer barbel than another but I have heard of koi that would have placed
better that were missing them. Maybe we can get Ray or JR or other Judges who post here to give their Official view. maybe Mike can have Henry comment

[RayJordan]

Missing something that is supposed to be there should be a disqualification. Missing a eye, fin, or barbel.

Having an extra something should be a demerit - if it is noticed during judging. How much of a demerit is a matter of how much a distraction it is from the overall beauty and quality of the koi.

Here is a example:
Occasionally a koi is seen that has a sort of goldfish like pom pom growth on it's nares. Depending on the size, shape and color it might be barely noticable and therefore should not be seen as a very important demerit. Or it might be very noticable and distracting. Think about a kohaku with large white pom poms flapping like some sort of ugly growth. In the 2nd case it would be a major demerit.

[gregbickal]

So trim those extra wiskers before going to the show

[Super Kindai]

I think it would be Okay for a small & friendly local show.
But it is NOT Okay for more serious & higher level of shows....it should be disqualified.