Are glitter angels just pearl scales or are do they have greater concentrations of guanine crystals in their skin (or both)? Is it a single allele trait or is it a line bred variant based on polygenes?
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Are glitter angels just pearl scales or are do they have greater concentrations of guanine crystals in their skin (or both)? Is it a single allele trait or is it a line bred variant based on polygenes?
Glitter is a trait and Pearlscale is genetic.
Pearlscale is caused by a recessive allele that causes the scales to not lay flat against the body. This uneven scale appears to our eye as being rounded and taking on a pearl-like shape. On a Pearlscale angelfish the scales further appear like a string of pearls along the body, hence its name. Pearlscale is on its own locus and genetically is noted as p/p.
Glitter is not caused by any known genetics. It is believed to be a physical trait due to concentrations of guanine in the skin (someone correct me if I am wrong).
Correct Pearscale is genetic and glitter is due to the buildup of guanine in the cells. This is the same thing that causes the colorful patches on a Paraiba. The amount of glitter or color patches on a Paraiba is a highly variable charteristic within every spawn and will vary greatly from individual to individual raised in the same environment. In my opinion line breeding doesnt help much.
I have taken two almost 100% coverage glitter individuals and spawned them numerous times and in each spawn I would see a standard bell curve distribution within each spawn.
I would love to see those fish! They sound beautiful.
Pearl scale is a gene that causes scale deformity on areas of the body enabled for it (usually the entire body). It doesn't distinguish between blushing and non-blushing however the effect is different. On blushings, both guanine rich and guanine deficient scales are affected but only those scales with iridophores will express as classic pearling. In effect you'll see "islands" of pearling instead of a fully homogenized effect. On the otherhand, glitter both dot type (common glitter; they look like dots concentrated on various or all areas with guanine) and randomly patterned only appear on the edges of a group of scales which in some cases mimic "snakeskin."Quote:
Originally Posted by TasV
The relationship is not fully understood and to my knowledge, no one has yet produced a scientifically accepted white-paper on how they interact with each other.Quote:
Originally Posted by TasV
In otherwords, we know it is inheritable but the question is we don't know if it fits our current model of genetic predictability (mendelian genetics). But that might be just a matter of taking counts and comparing findings between breeders. Which leads me to ask if by any chance have been taking note of quantities? Perhaps this might be a worthy project for your group to work on. That should be easy since glitter is a very popular trait and many breeders out there breed towards it and therefore all that is needed is an organization-wide request for statistical records.Quote:
Originally Posted by Damonc
Damon, when you get some free time, can you post pictures of your 100% fish with glitter? I'd love to see it. I used to breed towards it years back but had to backburner the project when I ran out of space.
This is a characteristic that is very difficult to get a good picture of as you know. This is one of the breeders and as you can see it has glitter everywhere on the body except where the stripes are.
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Very nice... the dark pigmented cells are called melanophores, from memory... seems that the guanine isn't deposited in this kind of tissue. This is such a beautiful fish!