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This is why melanoid axolotls they tend to be a bit more expensive and slightly less common on the market than other color morphs.
The lower amount of pteridines makes melanoid axolotls appear almost blue under certain wavelengths. Here is X, one of my melanoids, under blue and white LED lights. This melanoid axolotl has just a hint of yellow pigment on his face, which gives him an almost wild-type look.
We can tell that he is a melanoid because his eye ring lacks the metallic shine of wild-type axolotls. This axolotl is both melanoid and albino, which means it has a lower than normal amount of xanthophores caused by melanism in addition to a complete absence of melanophores caused by albinism. This explains why so few yellow pigments are visible on its skin.
Photo by Samantha Nicole. As you can imagine, axanthicism acts on xanthophores, the pigment cells responsible for producing pteridines. As it turns out, axanthic axolotls do have a certain amount of xanthophores, but those xanthophores are unable to produce pteridines due to a genetic mutation, which is believed to have originated from a virus.
This helps compensate a bit for the lack of pteridines, but since they are slowly accumulated over time, axanthic larvae still have a low survival rate compared to other color morphs.
This, along with the strict import laws currently in place, explains why axanthic axolotls are nearly impossible to find on the Canadian market. In addition to causing a complete lack of pteridines, the axanthic mutation prevents iridophores from differenciating during development. As a result, axanthic axolotls often look a lot like melanoids. One way to tell them apart is to look at them under a blueish light.
The complete absence of yellow pigments at birth tends to give axanthic a purple hue, whereas melanoids are more of a blueish grey. The purple effect tends to fade over time due to the accumulation of other yellow pigments, but some axolotls such as Sarah, below do manage to retain it through adulthood.
To make matters more confusing, axolotls can be both axanthic and melanoid. If an axanthic axolotl is especially dark, chances are it is also melanoid, but there is no way to be certain unless the genotype of both parents is known. Sarah, showing the purple-grey color characteristic of axanthic axolotls.
Despite looking similar to light melanoids, lavender axolotls are unlikely to possess the melanism trait. Chances are this very dark axanthic male is also homozygous for melanism. Trust me! DNA is a pretty amazing thing: the complete set of instructions for the construction of one particular living organism. Think of each chromosome as one assembly instruction booklet, like the ones that come with Ikea furniture.
Obviously it takes a lot of instructions to build a whole living being, so we need a whole pile of booklets. The instructions inside the booklets also have to be fool-proof, because the ones reading them and performing the assembly are proteins, which pretty much work like mindless drones.
I got this from a meme somewhere. So even if there is missing information in one of the booklets, the protein-drone just needs to look at the other copy. With any luck, the correct information will be there. Version 1 which I got from my mom shows detailed, step-by-step assembly instructions. If I follow version 2, I might end up with some weird contemporary art sculpture that may or may not crumble when I sit on it.
Obviously, I would rather follow version 1, right? But what if both of my parents had given me the faulty version 2?
And who knows, maybe the sculpture would have turned out even better than some boring old chair! When I say that a particular genetic trait follows a pattern of Mendelian inheritance , what I mean is that the assembly instructions for that particular trait come in two different versions, and given the opportunity, the assembly protein-drone will always prefer one version over the other.
The version that is always preferred is called the dominant allele. If a chromosome is like an instruction booklet, the section of the booklet that contains instructions for one particular trait is called a gene. Just like the booklet in our previous example, the albino gene comes in two versions: allele A and allele a.
Dominant alleles are always represented by capital letters, whereas recessive alleles are always lowercase. Just like humans, axolotls receive two versions of each chromosome — one from their mother and one from their father.
Every axolotl either ends up with one of these pairs:. Axolotls who end up with two copies of the dominant allele are said to be homozygous dominant. The ones with two copies of the recessive allele are called homozygous recessive.
So what makes allele A the dominant version of the gene? It contains a set of instructions for the construction of melanophores , the pigment cells that produce the dark pigment eumelanin. In allele a, those instructions are either erroneous or missing due to a genetic mutation that randomly occured at some point during the evolution of the species. We call this mutation albinism. All other axolotls have melanophores and are able to produce eumelanin with the possible exception of copper axolotls , which we will discuss later.
Some mutations can yield positive results! Look at how cute these albino axolotls are:. A sparkly white albino axolotl.
Photo by Leslee Anne Vanden Top. A very fluffy melanoid golden albino axolotl. Photo by Ashlee Juanita Turner. Pixel, one of my golden albino axolotls, holding onto a leaf during a water change. A super shiny golden albino baby. Tangelo and Kumquat, two of my golden albino babies. Tangelo left has a high level of pteridines, whereas Kumquat top has lower pteridines and higher iridophores.
Of the six mendelian traits that affect pigmentation, albinism is the most straightforward, because it only acts on one type of pigment cell. The other traits are slightly more complex, but the principle behind them is the same: as long the right sets of instructions are present, all pigment cells will be created and behave normally. These are naturally present in the majority of axolotls. Two of my light wild-type axolotls, showing all three natural pigments: eumelanin, pteridines and crystallized purines.
Axolotls that possess all three pigments are called wild-type. Even though they all have the same pigments, there can be a lot of variation in wild-type appearance. For instance, the axolotls shown above have a lot of yellow pteridines, which gives them an overall olive tint. They also have white spots on their tails. If I had taken the photo with the flash on, you would have seen that those white spots are shimmery, because they are made of crystallized purines.
Katla, one of my dark wild-type axolotls, showing a predominance of eumelanin. In this photo, we can see a lot of eumelanin. The other pigments are also present, but not very noticeable. You can see a little bit of crystallized purines in the eye ring and the tip of the gill stalks. Pteridines are almost completely invisible under the dark eumelanin.
Here, eumelanin forms the base skin color, but the pteridines and crystallized purines being layered on top of each other create a gold flake effect. Over the course of their history, axolotls have undergone several genetic mutations which affect their pigmentation — some of which are natural, some of which are the result of human intervention.
For, now I just want you to keep in mind that there are several genetic traits that can essentially switch pigment production on and off, or affect how pigments are distributed around the body. Eumelanin is the pigment responible for shades of brown and black. It is produced by pigment cells called melanophores. To give you a better idea of what the pigment looks like on its own, here is what an axolotl looks like when it shows only eumelanin:.
My melanoid axolotl, Z, showing only the pigment eumelanin. Shop for items specifically available from our Mississauga. Appointment based only. Shop for items specifically available from our Vaughan location. Shop for items available from our online store. These items are available to ship internationally. We are proud to share our average customer rating! Don't worry we don't send emails often! This product is manufactured in Aquarium chemicals are only available through our third party sellers.
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