[qam1]

By reading this below, I get the impression that they are not that old : "the variety, and characteristics, of goldfish available in aquarium stores have changed dramatically during the past 20 years. Most beginners are not really interested in the ordinary goldfish of yesterday - what today's market appallingly labels as "feeder goldfish." Instead, goldfish keepers are attracted to the growing number of "fancy" goldfish varieties: lionheads veiltails, moors, bubble eyes, celestials, etc."

Well there is last time I checked 144 different breeds of goldfish, The reason why the fancy breeds are popular now a days as opposed to the past is because of technology, i.e. better filters, heaters, etc. which makes raising them and transporting them much more easy so they are relatively cheap. When Goldfish first came to America in 1800's one fish could cost $100s to $1000s of dollars in today's money. And I am sure today's bubbleeye for example is different from the original in 1903

But I don't understand the point of your question, What difference does it make if they were evolved yesterday or 100 years ago, They still evolved.

But if I use the bubble eye we can even trace it's evolutionary transistional forms from the

Common goldfish ~1000 AD

to the Telescope (Globe eye) in 1592

to the Celestal in 1870

To the Bubble eye in 1903

[Truth666]

I'm trying to follow one of the cases at the bottom of your tree, say the one that probably "catches more the eye", the bubble eyes.
There are three posssibities concerning its ancestors :
- as you write : the goldfish G1 from your picture in the second level (which according to you was created by the chinese around 1000 A.D.)
- another species or set of species (which might or not include G1)
- no ancestors ("they were always there but not seen")
Well I totally agree yith you - let's exclude the last possibility because as you say "those features wouldn't survive in the wild".

[Truth666]

Since we assume it was created, there are two posssibities concerning its creation (we exclude natural evolution) :
- no genetic manipulation : as you write, human-engineered hybrid, selectively bred to enhance specific characteristics, by the chinese in 1908. So the same way CHIHUAHUAS were alledgly created from WOLVES in a few thousand years or whatever time it took. Let's live now aside the discussion of what could make (goldfish -> bubble eyes) more impressive than (WOLVES -> CHIHUAHUAS), i.e. velocity of evolution, differences in form.
- genetic manipulation (like cherry tomatoes) (including selectively breed or not)