Polymorphism already in C. c. larvae?

My cyanurus larvae are just a couple of weeks old, in the beginning of spawning hindlegs, and I can already clearly noticing different colour phenotypes.

The pigment cells that began migrating from three dorsal/dorsolateral lines have proliferated differently. There is no correlation between the development of the animal and the migration pattern thus far.

The two oldest and most developed animals are quite different. One is pretty much black while the other one is yellow(very little pigment). I was quite surprised since both my orientalis and verrucosus larvae have shown correlation between development and darkness and they have all been very homogeneous.
I was even more surprised since I have bigger groups of orientalis(15) and verrucosus(27) and thus phenotyping should be more difficult in my smaller group of 8 cyanurus larvae.

I find it quite interesting with the background that Erik and Nate talked about a great colour distribution amongst siblings in C.cyaunurus.

(Message edited by Jesper on December 18, 2004)

That's pretty cool, I can't wait until mine are far enough along to see this but they are still hatching right now.

I was considering conducting an experiment. Raising half in a completely black container vs. one that is light and see if there is differential development overall between the two. The observation you have made Jesper makes me wonder if it would really make a difference, but I guess that they're not that far along either. If there were a difference between the two though it wouldn't be a heritable one since it was environmentally determined and not genetically, but it'd still be interesting the see the effects.

Interesting idea, Garrison. It has been shown clearly in axolotls that the color of background they are raised on does affect color development. Ones raised on a white background get less melanin.

Garrison, Awesome. With all the larvae you have it would be more...umm...accurate than say with 5-10 larvae. Good Luck

Ok, This is it, once the paint dries I'm officially starting this experiment today. I'll post pics and details once I get it completely set up. If anyone has suggestions please feel free to suggest !