Paddis,, what colour..?

Hi everyone!

It's a long time since ive been here.. :wacko: but now when i'm back i have to ask, what kind of colour is my axie Paddis? She was all pink when i got her but as you can see from the pics she has gotten quite dark so i don't really know what to call her. The genetics in english is quite hard for me to understand so i'd like some help

(she got black eyes if you can't see that in the pics..)

from the little knowledge I have I would have to say she is a leucistic axolotl

aha.. well,, that's what ive been told before so i think you may be right.. but,, can someone explain to me (in simply words pleace) what "melanoid" and "axanthic" means? genetics in english oh my oh my...

She's really beautiful!!
How old is she?

Is it normal for all leucistics to get so dark spottet?
I can see my AxoLotte getting pale "freckles" in her face.

Wow I love the black spots! Have not seen an axolotl like that before

Anyway, here is an article that explains the different colour types:
http://www.axolotl.org/genetics.htm
I think in simple terms, a melanoid axolotl has less yellow pigment than a wild type, so is more black rather than speckled and does not have a shiny ring around its pupils. Melanoid albinos look like white albinos but have some yellow on them.

Axanthic axolotls are similar to melanoid axolotls but I think not as dark. Axanthic albino axolotls start off looking white become more yellow with age.

I hope those descriptions are correct, I found it hard to translate from the link! There are pictures to help you more on that page.

Sarah,

Melanoid means that the animal completely lacks the shiny pigments (called iridophores - best not to be seen by the missing ring in the eye, that's right) and has less yellow pigments. Melanoids do not necessarily have to be very dark, they can even be grey. The animal shown on John's page is very dark, thats right, but here is another one of my own:
So far you are right.

But melanoid albinos also do miss the shiny ring in their eyes because they do not develop the shiny iridophores. The last picture on the genetics page is a melanoid albino and here is another one (look at the eyes and gills - no shiny pigments!):


Axanthics completely miss the shiny and yellow pigments, resulting in very dark animals without the ring in their eyes. As far as I know, non-albinotic axanthic Axolotls are often weak and usually do not reach maturity.

Odette: madeve is right - what you have there is a leucistic Axolotl with a big part of dark pigmentation - and a very nice one indeed!

Yea I know that, was just struggling to explain the pigmentation in really simple English terms for Odette

She has amazing markings, really lovely

thanks everyone.. yeah i know,, it's not that easy to translate genetics but thanks for at least trying.. i will read more about it later to see if maybe i understand it, i have to sit down sometime when i have more time, and see if i get it then

Paddis is about 2,3 as far as i know. She started to get just small dark spots in her face just a couple of months after i got her.. (think she was about 1 year then, she got like freckles on her face). But then she became more and more dark.. can show some more pics of her,, i think it's kind of amazing that they can change like this

and by the way.. i was just thinking, all axolotls i've seen have much longer toes then Paddis.. her toes are "webbed" but i've seen other axolotls that also have webbed toes, but they still seem longer somehow.. i wonder why? Maybe it's just individual..?
8they have always been like that..)

My babies all started off completely white/leutistic but as they have got older (they are now around 15cm) there is a range in the group in the amount of speckles on the nose and up onto the neck.
I think it makes them look really cute and means i can almost tell the 7 of them apart! Yours is very cute and reminds me of a bread roll covered in poppy seeds!

From what I know the leutisitic colouring is due to a defect in the migration of the pigment cells from the neural crest ( which is a set of cells which form in the neck region in the embryo and move out from there to form the pigment cells and nerves of the body) so the pigment cells just get stuck and therefore the animal has no pigment in the body. (as far as i know the nerve migration is completely unaffected as the nerve cells are attracted by a different mechanism) Our axolotls are not completely defective in this process and the pigment cells make it some of the way around the animal before getting stuck. Also, the reason leutisitics still have black eyes is due to the fact that eye pigment is under the control of a different mechanism.
Im not sure if this helps but thats my understanding of the mechanism in axolotls!

The toes look short but I think it might be because the webbing goes nearlly all the way to the tip.
It might even help her swim better .
She would have to be one of the coolest looking axies I have seen , it almost looks like she has put on battle armour.

That's a beautiful axolotl!

I especially like the progression photos!

Nice Axolotl! Some of my 7cm leucistics have/are getting freckles - might keep one back to see if he turns out like Paddis!

wow thats an awesome looking leucistic axo I've never seen one with black marking like that. Thanks for sharing! Awesome axolotls.

Omg, she is so gorgeous

WOW, that its awesome.
I didnt know they could go from such a "pure" white to having so much pigmentation.
I thought by the time the reached a big size thats the colour they would stay.
Thats so interesting!.

I love axies with unusual colouration Jakes got a bunch of axies with spots and "moles" and wierd colouration I LOVE IT lol.

I want to get a white and black one one day. How beautiful.

bumping this because 1) the axie is beautiful and 2) i have a theory
i think it’s possible that with the substrate you have she may have been trying to adapt an attempt to blend in, kind of like how melanoids and other darker axolotls lighten up on white sand. just a thought