When choosing tosai, i have heard it mention many times to look for good skin quality. What is meant by good skin quality?
Mingaun
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When choosing tosai, i have heard it mention many times to look for good skin quality. What is meant by good skin quality?
Mingaun
Others can explain it better than I, but if you look at some of the pictures Brady has shown of young fish the skin has a translucent look to it like skim milk. Lower quality skin has a poorer texture to it, more like cotton.
These pictures are not the best examples (no show winners here:rolleyes:), but they do show different quality skin types. The one on the top right has very dull and lifeless skin. The color that once covered most of its head and formed another hi step along its back is crumbling away because of the poor skin.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...es/Kohaku1.jpg
The large Sanke in this picture has the same dull look to the shiroji. The Sumi and hi on it have a very different look than the 2 smaller ones in the bottom right of the photo.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/Sanke1-1.jpg
Here are Tosai with good skin quality.:)
Bring some of those to Louisville!
skin quality........:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by mingaun
We are absolutely planning on being there. I just requested two booths and three tanks.:cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by l113892
These pictures do tell so much more than just description.
Larry the koi that you pointed put with poor skin quality looks pinkish and dull. Could it be that it is still very young and could change. When i compare yours and Super kindai, his koi skin looks glistening but could be older. Is it possible?
I have only been looking at jumbo tosai and not one of them look like that. They look a lot more mature i think. Skin is not great white but milky.
Mingaun
its kinda the sheen of the skin?
Here is a jumbo tosai will good sheen and skin quality.Picture taken from Sakai auction pages.:)
That difference between "glistening" and "dull" is exactly what I hoped you would see. Junichi (and others) have shown you what good skin texture looks like with a vibrant sheen to it. I've shown you the opposite with that little one I pointed out and the dull sanke as well. I've been growing these out specifically to record the way good skin and bad develop over a 1 year time period. Obviously I didn't keep them because they are great fish. Just good to learn about skin and color development.Quote:
Originally Posted by mingaun
In those 2 pictures you see 3 different types of skin with different looks to them. I've had these since the day they were born and have grown them out just to watch the different skin qualities either build or deteriorate. The dull kohaku used to have 3 hi plates. One is almost completely gone, one is 90% gone, and the head plate has gone down about 50%. I fully expect it to be shiro muji by summer. The skin has no holding power, and will never get better.
The big Sanke in the second pic shows another result of poor skin. It isn't as lifeless as the little Kohaku. It is more of a "hard" cottony skin type. The beni has no sheen to it and is almost a burnt orange color. The sumi is hard, and may last a year or two, but will never have the sheen to it that the other 2 in that bowl have. Neither of the two to the right are very good fish, but their skin quality has a sheen to it that allows the color to build greater depth and luster. They're just mediocre pond fish, but they'll hold their color much longer.