Unusual color morph (again!)

[Jake]

I found this little guy (or girl?) this morning. It has both dark eyes, but something about it reminds me of Pirate when she was this size. Look at the pics, one set of gills has pigment, the other none at all, and one half of the body/face is pale, while the other has pigment. If it had a *special* eye I'd think it was one of Pirate's offspring, but this is a gfp that just so happens to share the same father as Pirate

...and if you don't know who Pirate is...http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=45802

 

[Darkmaverick]

Wow congrats Jake, seems like your wish has came true! Beautiful larvae. I hope it grows up to make pirate proud.

Cheers.

 

[Jake]

Here are 2 more that I found tonight.

 

[Bellabelloo]

How exciting!
Are the last two from Pirates eggs or from the dads other batch?

 

[Clairey Beary]

WOW! That's absoloutely fascinating! I've just checked out the pics of pirate and he is gorgeous! I love the colour. Looks like these little critters are going to be like their mother. You are a lucky guy Jake!!

Claire

 

[Jake]

How exciting!
Are the last two from Pirates eggs or from the dads other batch?

They're from Pirate's father's other batch. Pirate didn't produce any unusual morphs that I know of.

 

[SUZY]

Absolutely Beautiful !!
You did a great job !!

 

[Otterwoman]

Maybe someday this one and Pirate can mate.

 

[Jake]

Maybe someday this one and Pirate can mate.

I'm hoping so, she seems like she's into younger men anyways.

 

[mitchell101]

Your babies look wonderful. Hope they all grow up well and nothing happens to them. I'm not sure but i went into a pet store today and found an axolotl that was gold and black speckled is this anything like piebald or something?
Mitch.

 

[Otterwoman]

she seems like she's into younger men anyways.

Elektra is a year older than Eddie...

 

[Daniel]

Very interesting, especially since there are several of them in one batch. We had two similar cases in Germany (one last year, one this year).

Any idea as to why there are so "many" of them in the batch apart from the same father? They are very different to Pirate, though. I could imagine (and that is just a shot in the dark) that it has something to do with the egg-laying technique of the female (two eggs together so that the embryos fuse?)

Sidenote: If you did not flip the pics, Jake, they all have a white left side and a wild right side.

 

[Jake]

Any idea as to why there are so "many" of them in the batch apart from the same father? They are very different to Pirate, though. I could imagine (and that is just a shot in the dark) that it has something to do with the egg-laying technique of the female (two eggs together so that the embryos fuse?)

Sidenote: If you did not flip the pics, Jake, they all have a white left side and a wild right side.

I have no idea why there are so many of them in this batch. I've found 5 so far.

As for these pictures, I did not flip any of them, all of the larvae do have a white left side, but some don't necessarily look like they have a wild-type side, it almost looks like some are just leucistic with more melanophores on the right side of their body.

 

[oceanblue]

Is gfp expressed uniformly across all offspring and if not do any of the pale patches not glow while the rest of the animal does?

This would hint at eggs fusing, while uniform gfp expression or non expression might suggest haploid/diploid chimerism mentioned in the thread on the german similar oddities.

Do you think the melanophores in the pale areas are smaller? This would suggest these patches are haploid.

 

[Jake]

Is gfp expressed uniformly across all offspring and if not do any of the pale patches not glow while the rest of the animal does?

This would hint at eggs fusing, while uniform gfp expression or non expression might suggest haploid/diploid chimerism mentioned in the thread on the german similar oddities.

Do you think the melanophores in the pale areas are smaller? This would suggest these patches are haploid.

4 of the 5 unusual larvae are gfp. One of them looks like it possibly only glows on one side, but the wild side might just not be glowing as bright.

The melanophores on the pale side are sparse, but I don't think the individual spots are smaller on either side.

 

[oceanblue]

Thanks for the extra information. I'm not sure it helps much or what it means. I don't think the gfp transgene in itself has anything to do with this phenomenon but it may help sort out the puzzle as to what is going on.

I understand there are several different gfp strains around but most behave like a single mendelian dominant gene which will be linked to the genes on one of the fourteen chromosomes inherited from its parent, in this case its mother. If this is the case half the brood will glow. If more than one insert is present then more of the offspring may glow, and some more brightly than others.

Keep us posted on developments on your remarkable creatures!

 

[Apple]

I wish I lived in the US! I'd offer to buy one! so pretty and unusual! Apple x

 

[savannah]

What a lovely little thing. It looks a little like the axie i saw with an albino left side and a luecistic right side. Too cool. Congrats.

 

[Jake]

Here are some more recent photos of the 5 special ones. Sorry about the poor image quality.

 

[MikeM]

could we get a picture of pirate in this thread just for comparison please.