I love the blue markings on top of this golden koi. I don't think I've ever seen another fish like it. In reality, I'm sure that it's markings are closer to grey, but with the lighting that day, they turned blue without much special manipulation on my part. With the new cast, they match the inner lining of the fish's mouth. The perfect circle of the koi's mouth has always fascinated me. I love how much it looks like a mini vacuum cleaner and how it is constantly opening and closing to gather whatever sustenance it can suck up. It is an intriguingly graceful fish and yet with all of it's elegance, it seems rather rude. Like carp, koi seem to swarm and dog pile each other in attempts to get closest to whatever food may be had. In fact, it is often difficult to grab a picture of them without a huge jumble of fish being in the frame. They seem to not even notice the other fish around them at times and remain completely undisturbed even as they are being pushed aside or swum over.

I photographed this group of koi at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.