A Nottinghamshire pensioner having dinner was startled when a goldfish fell down the chimney into the fire and bounced on to the hearth.

He put the fish in warm water with slices and bread and it has now recovered.

The manager of a nearby animal rescue centre said that the fish had a heron's beak mark on its back. "Someone might report a missing fish - but the heron could have carried him for miles," he said.

Goldfish are the domesticated Asiatic subspecies of Carassius auratus, the gibel carp, a species that naturally shows a wide range of morphological variation when raised in different environments. In its native China it inhabits rivers, streams, ponds, lakes and ditches, living in running, still and even stagnant water from 10°C to 32°C, growing to about 30 cm in length and 2.5 kg in weight within 2-3 years and living for about 10 years. It is a delicious food fish! It crosses readily with any ornamental goldfish, producing viable offspring. To the right is a picture of the Asiatic gibel carp.

All morphological changes from the wild type are the result of genetic mutations which man has spotted and favoured by selective line breeding to perpetuate them according to his fancy, although there is a strong tendency to revert to wild type. Human husbandry of this species has unlocked its huge genetic potential, but it has taken a tremendous amount of effort to select and stabilize desirable gene combinations.