Obviously, as regular readers, you will be thinking, ‘here we go again, another daft animal story.’ Well think again readers, this may be a story from China, and we concede that it is about fish, but this stuff is extremely serious! (Well, to the participants and owners, at least).

China has held the world’s very first beauty contest for goldfish, casting aside the need for swimsuits and high-heels, but still requiring a certain amount of even security to protect the contestants from the Sushi Bar owners.

When we say this even is taken rather more seriously than you might think, how about this… more than 3,000 scaly fin bearing swimmers from 14 different countries arrived in Fuzhou to take part in the International Goldfish Championships.

There were several categories and a range of titles to be won, with the much sort after World Goldfish Queen being the most coveted. All lined up in huge bowls, there to be judged on size, weight, colour and movement through the water, with the breeders watching and hanging on every word or expression from the judges.

Just to reiterate, this is a huge business, especially in China where they export 30 million dollars worth of goldfish just from Fuzhou… So next time you’re flushing Nemo down the toilet, just remember, she could have been a beauty queen!