The Comet is a sub set of goldfish. The comet is the most sought after general variety of goldfish in water gardens and ponds both outdoors and in.
Comets as well as all goldfish are descended from one version of the dark gray and brown carp. In all there are 300 varieties with the comet varieties being the most common.
Comet goldfish are part of the family Cyprinid.
A comets shape and often mostly one color of firie red to orange as well as having a single tail define them as a gold fish sub type.
It is said that the original comet variety was bred in the United States in the 1800s.
The fins of this variety of man made mutation are longer than that of the common gold fish. These fins are not the longest of all goldfish varieties that have been bred through mutation practices designed to create show fish of one ideal aesthetic, or another.
Comets tend to be more reddish than the commons that tend to be more orange. Due to this color lean it is easy to see why the more forked tail of the two man made varieties is the strain that produces the sarassa comet configuration.
The origin of the sarassa comet goldfish point of origin variety has more speculation. That means that it is hard to define when this variety and method for arriving at this artistic epiphany was first accomplished.
Comet goldfish come in metallic orange, metallic yellow, metallic red, calico and the a-fore-mentioned sarassa. The Sarassa are noted by there red or white cap mark on otherwise red or white body.
Some experts include calico the make up of the comet variety. This could be due to breeding the calico variety with these other comet varieties. A breeding that results in a variety of calico colored goldfish with the morphology of the comet variety.
Some people feel that the calico varieties were the result of man made mutations off of mutations that have been bred by mankind many generations apart from any comet stock. Or, that they were the result of mankind induced in-breeding that was more selective and complex than is visible in the immediate comet varieties.
As a result of reintroducing into the comet bloodline the strongly breed for calico coloring in other goldfish strains, sought after by man; the calico comet is possible according to some calico breeders.
Pond Comet goldfish are the main source of pond entertainment apart from the common wild variety goldfish.