Take a look at this albino yellow tang!

[danmhippo]

http://www.themarinecenter.com/h36Tg07g ... 10h0vg.htm

 

[Reefguide]

Wow, that is cool...

Anyone called to see what they want for him??

 

[Anonymous]

Freaky! I wonder how much $ they want for that one.

 

[Reefguide]

I called got a machine... will try later !!

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
If it is true albino, won't the eyes be red?!?

 

[Len]

$1500 is their asking price.

Fish pigmentation and human pigmentation are different, and consequently so are their respective albinism. This specimen is missing chromatophores along it's rear portion, lending to the pure white colors. Xanthophores still exist around its front end. It's not true albino if you define albinos as universally lacking in all pigments.

 

[slojmn1]

Youch...Pricey 8O

 

[KMTaquarium]

with all of the genetic technology out there in the world, why doesnt some one use it to clone these and make genetically modified fish, not jush tangs, make ones that produce bioluminescence and green tangs and black firefish and on and on.
teh technology is out there, im waiting for someone to use it!

 

[danmhippo]

Before anyone wants to invest $$ to accomplish that, I think they would first come up with dye-fish or dye-injected fish. Remember those painted glass fish in the FW section?

 

[KMTaquarium]

for all of you that want hte pic go here:
http://www.themarinecenter.com/h36Tg07g ... 10hovg.jpg

its not that hard for those who think it is

oh also
legally im linking to there site and have not taken there picture for public domain

 

[liquid]

Hehehe, looks like he's spewed his zooxanthellae... 8O

Shane

 

[Tcook]

There are eleven (human) different types of oculocutaneous albinism. giving a range from partial to complete loss of pigmentation. Only five of these show abnormal iris pigmentation.

It will be interesting to see how its skin holds up to UV irradiation in the shallow environment of a home aquarium.

 

[Anonymous]

It will be interesting to see how its skin holds up to UV irradiation in the shallow environment of a home aquarium.

Yeah, what do you do if your $1500 specimen gets a sunburn? :?

 

[danmhippo]

Tint your water..... :roll:

 

[Len]

It will be interesting to see how its skin holds up to UV irradiation in the shallow environment of a home aquarium.

Hmmm. This didn't occur to me. That's a very intriguing question posed. However, UV-C and UV-B is rarely (if ever) emitted, and UV-A is present in low quantities, so there might not be too significant an effect.

I know next to nothing about human albinism, but any type of albinism in fish is very rare, especially amongst acanthurids. Whereas human pigmention is due to an individual's ability to synthesize melanin, fish have other specialized pigments found in specialized cells that contribute significantly (if not predominately) to their coloration. In this case, the tang lacks all pteridines in its xanthophores, or lacks xanthophores altogether.

 

[Jeff Hood]

Am I the only one that thinks that fish is Butt ugly?

Jeff

 

[EmilyB]

Am I the only one that thinks that fish is Butt ugly?

Jeff

Nope. "Cherno-Bill" looks like hell..... :evil:

 

[FMarini]

Interesting fish,
I saw another one of these at an online retailer sometime last yr (http://www.theaquariumcity.com/saltwate ... ixtang.htm)
I think this animal might be more like a leucistic or xanthic animal than an albino, albinism is a congental loss of coloration pigments and hence the white (lack of color), whereas leucistic animals are missing a dose of coloration which presents as a masked, muted color (often described as incomplete dominance), where as xanthic animals may not possess a 100% on/off mutation but a gene that allows the production of yellow and brown is missing in small quantities.

Regardless, of the reason why its missing color, what is of interest is that lack of pigmentation in this fish is not segmented or uniform. If I recall correctly w/ albinism, the regions deviod of pigment may follow a developmental segment or plane, this fish doesn't have this, so possibly this fish was a normal colored fish which has become discolord due to trauma (like nerve degeneration or infection as a juvenile), or has a weak dose of yellow.

AS w/ all white animals, they tend not to do well in nature and that why albinos are exceedingly rare. Beside Uv sensitivity, white stands out and makes these animals targets as juveniles. Additionally, in birds and man albinism is often linked to other genetic predispositions-usually bad.
So an adult size animal is certainly a rarity.
Cha-ching... pretty pricey IMO
frank

 

[Tcook]

Regardless, of the reason why its missing color, what is of interest is that lack of pigmentation in this fish is not segmented or uniform. If I recall correctly w/ albinism, the regions deviod of pigment may follow a developmental segment or plane, this fish doesn't have this

Albinism is a congenital, nonsegmental, complete absence of, or decreased activity of Tyrosinase. Some rare forms of albinism are tyrosinase unrelated. The change in pigmentation is uniform, and in some types may change over time. Depending on the type, visual acuity can be quite affected with or without the presence of strabismus. There are a few more rare syndromes(Chediak-higashi and others) where albinism is a component, that have other severe medical problems, however oculocutanious albinism alone does not.

Segmental defects in pigmentation can be seen in vitiligo, piebaldism, and Waardenburg's among others.

Not sure how much of this can be applied to fish. FWIW

 

[squeezix]

with all of the genetic technology out there in the world, why doesnt some one use it to clone these and make genetically modified fish, not jush tangs, make ones that produce bioluminescence and green tangs and black firefish and on and on.
teh technology is out there, im waiting for someone to use it!

They only use that magic to feed poor people or get rich people pregnant....sump topic methinks.