Coloration/Piebaldism?

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bitenomnom

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Amanda
I tried to search for this but didn't find anything directly relevant to my question (maybe I just wasn't persistent enough), but here goes.

I've got a melanoid axolotl, around 4.5". A few weeks ago (maybe a month), I noticed a white patch on the bottom of his head/his throat that I hadn't noticed before (not to say it wasn't there; he was quite shy when I first got him so I might not have seen it). At first I was worried because my immediate thought was that it was some sort of fungal infection. But upon closer inspection, it just looks like a part of his skin.

Do most melanoids have this type of coloration? He is very slightly lighter on the rest of his stomach (which I hear is fairly common), but not nearly as white as the patch on his throat. I will try to get a picture later today, as right now my camera's batteries are dead.


[An unrelated query: Is there any particular reason why he almost always runs along the ground (rather than swimming, or he tries to use his hands to help him swim) when he paces, whereas my other axolotl almost always swims (hands against sides) when pacing?]
 
Hi Amanda,
Most melanoids are either black or gray. Some do have white patches, blotches, or even a little bit of spots. I've produced some melanoids that have a whitish splotch on their sides or at their heads. It does look like fungus at a glance but isn't.
 
Here's a picture of an odd looking black melanoid axolotl.
 

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michael said:
Hi Amanda,
Most melanoids are either black or gray. Some do have white patches, blotches, or even a little bit of spots. I've produced some melanoids that have a whitish splotch on their sides or at their heads. It does look like fungus at a glance but isn't.
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Thanks! I suppose that would especially make sense since I got mine from you. :happy: And the picture your posted looks a lot like the white patch on mine (just in a different location).
 
bitenomnom said:
Thanks! I suppose that would especially make sense since I got mine from you. :happy: And the picture your posted looks a lot like the white patch on mine (just in a different location).
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If you don't like the blotched one I'd be glad to trade for another axolotl.
 
michael said:
If you don't like the blotched one I'd be glad to trade for another axolotl.
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Oh, no, I love 'im. I think he's grown on me too much for me to give him up.
Do you think that he's always had the blotch (and I just didn't notice at first), or that it's developed with him?

Also, managed to get a decent picture of what I'm talking about.
 

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bitenomnom said:
Oh, no, I love 'im. I think he's grown on me too much for me to give him up.
Do you think that he's always had the blotch (and I just didn't notice at first), or that it's developed with him?

My guess is he didn't have the blotch when you got him. I'm no genetics expert but I think the color might work something like the color does in a leucistic axolotl. Some of the pigment didn't migrate. I've had reports from a couple people who I sold juveniles or eggs to that wound up with axolotls with blotches.
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michael said:
My guess is he didn't have the blotch when you got him. I'm no genetics expert but I think the color might work something like the color does in a leucistic axolotl. Some of the pigment didn't migrate. I've had reports from a couple people who I sold juveniles or eggs to that wound up with axolotls with blotches.
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Oh! I see. That does make sense. It looks like he has a few other areas (like one of his back legs) where the same thing might happen/seems to be happening.
 
Do you think the same thing might be going on with this wild type. This is the least blotched side of the one from my odd color post.
 

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I like the blotchy ones. I think they are nice in an ugly way. (If that makes sense)
 
michael said:
Do you think the same thing might be going on with this wild type. This is the least blotched side of the one from my odd color post.
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Hmmmm. Well, to me it looks a bit different because there aren't really white patches that look like they lay "over" the original color, but maybe things are just different because it's a wild type. Like somehow if as the wild type grew, some of the darker areas remained in place, while the pigmentation didn't end up in some of the lighter areas as it grew? I'm not sure. (Or even sure if that makes any sense!) It would be interesting to find out if there's a similar process at work there. Maybe it would be easier to compare if you had a closer picture?



That ("nice in an ugly way") does make sense to me. Although I thought it was cute that Velvet's white throat blotch is symmetrical (more or less). And it just makes him seem even quirkier than he already is! (Which is quite a feat!!)
 
I just noticed in the picture I took that some lighter areas on his arms are visible as well. I can see them sometimes when he's sitting still, but it's tough because they're more or less on the insides of his arms/legs.
Does it look like there is a whitish area right by his mouth as well? (I mean, I've seen whitish-looking mouths in pictures of other dark-colored lotls, but this somehow seems more so? But maybe it's just because he's young yet?)
 
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