Why this matters to Aquapedia
JMA's manual explicitly exists to reduce the problem of multiple nicknames/house names being applied to phenotypically equivalent Medaka. Aquapedia therefore must not use a seller/breeder nickname as the sole dedupe key for a strain record.
The manual describes the 同種異名問題 — different nicknames being attached to the same variety/phenotype — and explains that the system separates standardized phenotype classification from nicknames/house names. This directly supports Aquapedia's planned distinction among classificationname, nickname, breederline, tradename, and trait. [M1]
Classification architecture observed in v5
The table of contents and trait table organize improved Medaka into distinct dimensions rather than one flat strain-name list. [M1]
A single specimen can express multiple traits simultaneously, and a nickname may package those traits under a breeder-facing house name. Aquapedia should therefore store phenotype traits as normalized many-to-many entities rather than treating every trait combination or sale title as an independent biological lineage.
2025 addition signal: パウダー / Powder
JMA publishes a separate official 第5版(2025年) 追加項目 PDF. That additions-only document explicitly places パウダー under 2025年9月改定箇所 and gives it its own definition page, so the 2025 revision assignment no longer depends only on interpreting the color legend in the full manual. [M7]
JMA defines パウダー as a trait in which white pigment cells (白色素胞) appear in a particulate/granular form on the body surface or fins. [M1][M7]
カガミ is already present in the common-supplement column of JMA's fourth-edition (2024) additions document. Aquapedia may therefore record カガミ as present by 2024-04, but should not infer its original introduction year from that observation. [M8]
Crystal Devil show evidence
At the 15th Autumn Japan Medaka Show, JMA records a Hakozaki Takashi entry under the house/common name クリスタルデビル, standardized there as ブラックアースアイラメスワロー, with supplements 背地反応なし、側面光. It received a GEX prize and first place in general voting. [M4]
This is useful because it shows クリスタルデビル functioning as a nickname/house name while JMA judged/displayed the fish under standardized phenotype terms. It does not by itself prove identity with No. 41 Broken Devil (Crystal); the relationship should be investigated against Hakozaki's own chronology and imagery.
Trait history anchors from JMA v5
The manual contains several high-value historical anchors for Aquapedia's breeder timeline
These are classification-history anchors, not exhaustive breeder catalogs. Each named breeder still requires the separate breeder-research-standard audit.
Important manual principle: visual phenotype vs genetics
JMA's Q&A says classification is principally based on visible phenotype rather than genotype; for example, if a fish visibly has a yellow body it is classified as yellow and if white it is classified as white. [M1]
Aquapedia should therefore keep at least three separate layers
1. visibleclassificationtraits — JMA phenotype classification,
Version-control anomalies to preserve
1. Cover/web page = fifth edition, September 2025; the full PDF footer history accidentally labels the 2025 date as 第４版. JMA's separate fifth-edition additions-only PDF correctly records 2025年9月1日 第５版, so the anomaly is confined to the full-manual footer rather than JMA's edition identity generally. [M1][M2][M7]
2. Recognition No. 41 was promised a later standardized name after trait-manual inclusion, but the currently reviewed official No. 41 page still displays 品種名：未定. [M3]
3. クリスタル does not appear as a searchable standardized term in the v5 PDF, while the new 2025 パウダー term is present. This is suggestive but not enough to assert equivalence. [M1][M3]
Progress/count effect
This audit should not add hundreds of new strain rows by converting every trait combination into a strain. Instead it creates normalized trait vocabulary used to dedupe the larger Medaka catalog.
Current high-confidence Medaka counting anchors after this audit
Next research queue
1. Search Hakozaki Takashi's primary breeder media for explicit クリスタル, ブロークンデビル, クリスタルデビル, and パウダー chronology.
2. Search 2025–2026 JMA show records for Broken Devil/Crystal Devil specimens classified with パウダー.
3. Build machine-readable JMA trait vocabulary with revision-year provenance rather than manually inferring traits from house names.
Public research references
Listed research leads are not automatically supporting evidence for every individual claim.
No eligible public supporting URLs are attached to this summary yet.