Genetics question!

[ChewToyHead]

Hey everyone!

I am raising my first little batch of axolotl larvae and I have a colour question! I am not sure which colour the mom is, since she is a bit more yellow than my other pink ones, but if she is not next to the others, she looks pink herself. So she is either a pink or golden albino and dad is a very black melanoid. The eggs themselves were white (since mom is an albino), but the larvae all have dark eyes. So my question is: Since they are definitely not albino, will they all be melanoid? Or could some other colours happen from the "grandparents"?

Thanks!

 

[AMurry24537]

In order to predict specifically, we'd need to know the grandparents' information, but there are a few things we could guess at from the parents. I should add a note that I'm not an expert by any means on this topic, but I've been trying to do some research into the topic recently, and the following info is to the best of my knowledge.

Your albino has the recessive trait a/a. If the father is A/a (carrying, but not displaying the albino gene), you could get albino babies, but if all the babies have dark eyes like you said, they are not albino. This would imply that the father is likely A/A.

You probably already know this, but just in case, I wanted to mention for those who don't know, that although black axolotls are often referred to as black melanoids, this is not always accurate. Melanoid simply refers to a lack of iridiphores, and any color of axolotl can be melanoid. If the father is indeed melanoid (m/m) and the mother carries the "m" gene, you may end up with some melanoids.

Since the father is dark, he definitely carries the "D" gene, but we don't know whether he's D/D or D/d. The mother could be anything: D/D, D/d, or d/d because the albino gene overrides it either way. I would guess that you're most likely to get dark babies just on the odds, but depending on what's carried by the parents, you could end up with some leucistics (d/d) or wilds.

The other factors that effect color are unknown from your description, but hopefully this helps!

 

[JM29]

They'll all be melanoid only if the mother is a melanoid albino (see axolotl.org for more information)
Else you'll probably get a batch of wild-types or a mix of melanoids and wild-types

 

[ChewToyHead]

In order to predict specifically, we'd need to know the grandparents' information, but there are a few things we could guess at from the parents. I should add a note that I'm not an expert by any means on this topic, but I've been trying to do some research into the topic recently, and the following info is to the best of my knowledge.

Your albino has the recessive trait a/a. If the father is A/a (carrying, but not displaying the albino gene), you could get albino babies, but if all the babies have dark eyes like you said, they are not albino. This would imply that the father is likely A/A.

You probably already know this, but just in case, I wanted to mention for those who don't know, that although black axolotls are often referred to as black melanoids, this is not always accurate. Melanoid simply refers to a lack of iridiphores, and any color of axolotl can be melanoid. If the father is indeed melanoid (m/m) and the mother carries the "m" gene, you may end up with some melanoids.

Since the father is dark, he definitely carries the "D" gene, but we don't know whether he's D/D or D/d. The mother could be anything: D/D, D/d, or d/d because the albino gene overrides it either way. I would guess that you're most likely to get dark babies just on the odds, but depending on what's carried by the parents, you could end up with some leucistics (d/d) or wilds.

The other factors that effect color are unknown from your description, but hopefully this helps!

Thank you for your long and very easy to understand answer I am pretty sure dad is a melanoma, since he is not "shiny" in any way. Just very black with a lighter underbelly. But I think they will all be wild-types in various light/darkness. They pretty much look alike except 2 that are a little lighter, but still think they will turn out wild and not leucistic

Thank you again for your reply!

They'll all be melanoid only if the mother is a melanoid albino (see axolotl.org for more information)
Else you'll probably get a batch of wild-types or a mix of melanoids and wild-types

I don't think mom is a melanoid, since she's got that "shiny" ring in her albino eyes So they will probably all be wild-types
Thank you so much for your reply