Is it an albino pleco?

[drgreg75]

Jess explains why some non albino pleco's sometimes get mistaken for albino's.

This explanation was to good to be lost because of a sale gone bad.

Thanks for taking the time Jess.

Ben.

[griffin]

It depends, it's a bit of an acamdemic thing but there are some genetic variations that get mistaken for albinism because they cause a similar looking lack of the pigment melanin.

What colour are the fishes eyes?

It is possible, if this fish has a little brown pigment that it is hypomelanistic which means not all the melanin is taken away. I would expect such a fish to still have pigmented (dark) eyes. There's also leucistic, which strictly should cause all melanin to be removed from the body but the animal to have dark eyes.

A true albino should have red eyes but may not be pure white. This is because sometimes not all melanin is removed - it if was, the animal would not be able to survive as melanin is essential for life. So even very white albinos will actually still have a little bit of melanin somewhere in their body - it just isn't always obvious.

Lastly the fish could be an albino (if it has unpigmented retinas - thus red eyes) but still have brown colour to it IF in this species the brown colour is caused by a pigment other than melanin, as albinism causes only melanin to be removed.

HTH

Jess

[the cichlid kid]

Thanks for your input Jess, I atleast found it very enlightening. :D

[Ben]

Hi all,

This post has been edited and moved to the catfish forum so we can all learn from Jess's expertise.

Cheers

[OziOscar]

I've seen drgreg's Albino Pl*co (once when I visited to buy some Labidochromis caelurus) and despite my erroneous disagreement with him when he showed it to me (and his generosity for not throwing me off the balcony :D), it is, according to what I have seen on other reasonably reputable sites on the net an albino and a very nice example of same.

Check this out: planetcatfish.com albino pl*co pic. This is a juvi but his is an adult with similar colouration but drg's has better better saturation imho.

drgreg's specimen is well shaped, good health, nice behaviour and really great colouration. It is really very lovely. Hope that he is able to send a pic at some time - although it's going to be hard to do it justice.

Cheers - OziOscar.