Is there a possible existence of a Pigeon-Blood albino?
If so, how can we identify one?
Lets take an example:
Albino x Pigeon Blood
F1 x Albino
By theory, at F2, we should get, but not more than 50% of Albinos. Albinism removes melanin, i.e. black pigmentation (red pupils/no stress bars) Can we recognise a Pigeon Blood fish without melanin ala black pigmentation? Truth is - no we can't. this is because it looks exactly like any other fish.
This theory is substantiated by the fact that we cannot tell a golden albino from a Brown Albino. We cannot see its vertical stress bars, neither could we see the difference in the base colour. Corresponding high levels of spread iridocytes (SI) make the overall tone look yellowish in all albinos.
The Albino, like the Golden discus, has really bad body-shape. of course we ahve see nvery nice shaped albinos, but some of us also know that breeders around had, back then, purchased all the kink-headed, deformed pelvin-finned Albinos.
Like the Golden strain, its weakness could be further enhanced by crossing in the Pigeon Blood gene which is known to be strong, and thus giving the albino good shape etc.
Of course, my disclaimer is that not all good-shaped Albinos are Pigeon Blood. there are many around which aren't.
But i've had friends who'd purchased albinos, bred them, and realised the inherent Pigeon Blood gene in the off-spring. Yes the probability of the other non-Albino parent being a pigeon-blood is there, but he had tested it on multiple fishes he knows which are not Pigeon-Blood-inherent fish, and had a great percentage of pigeon throwbacks, just like how we out-cross Albinos and sometimes, if not most, get brown off-spring. these brown fish are from the Albino-Brown.
Then, would we know a PIGEON BLOOD ALBINO when we see one?
The thing is - we'd never know when we see one.
If a fish carries a phenotype of albinism, then we cannot see any black pigmentations even of the brown fish's vertical stress bars, or the black specs of the Pigeon Blood.
When we see a fish carrying a dominant Pigeon Blood phenotype, we cannot disprove the albino genes in it, if any, but not visible to the eye. The only way is to cross it to another albino to test for the presence of the albino allele. If albinism results in the off-spring, then we can safely conclude that the Pigeon Blood phenotype parent does indeed possess albino ancestry.
In one of the American zoos, (can't recall which one, was featured on discovery channel) they'd found an albino miniature monkey, but cannot determine its subspecies until it actually bred with one of the domestic monkeys. Only did they manage to classify the albino animal.
This identity confusion was due to the lack of pigmentation and thus confusing the identification process.
quote somebody on the forums:
"Pigeon-Blood" = Black Pigmentation
Albino = no pigmentation
In my opinion, the above doesn't hold true, as much as it is believed by many. Let me explain..
Pigeon Blood doesn't equate to the presence of black pigmentation. In general, all fishes, all living beings which aren't albino have black pigmentations. But the logic lies therein that albinism removes black pigmentation i.e. melanin, which therefore extracts a certain percentage of the phenotype trait.
Made me ponder abit more.. I wouldn't be able to tell 100% what race a human albino is of.. would we for sure?
The Pigeon Blood strain has been used to strengthen the use of some Golden Leopard Snakeskin lines, but it doesn't show through the phenotype of the Golden Leopard Snakeskins. It's sad that some unscrupulous breeders still insist that their GLSS are pure without pigeon blood genes, and have you the consumer realise only when you spawn them and have a couple of those Pigeon Blood fry emerging from the spawn. I guess the same intentions could be implemented unto the albino strains.
Therefore, in conclusion -
Yes, the Pigeon Blood Albino can exist, and DOES exist!