The albino axolotl is a pale morph that cannot make the pigment melanin. Unlike most morphs, its gene did not come from axolotls: it came into the laboratory stock from a tiger salamander in 1962.[1]
Appearance
Albino axolotls look pale pink-white, and the photo shows red gills. Their black pigment cells are present but make no melanin.[1]
Genetics
Albinism is caused by a fault in the gene tyr, which makes the enzyme tyrosinase. It is recessive.[1]
History
In 1962 a pale tiger salamander from near Foot Lake, Willmar, Minnesota was given to the researcher Rufus Humphrey at Indiana University, and he crossed it with an axolotl.[1] All animals in the main laboratory stock descend from that cross, and 88% of its wild-coloured adults carry the albino gene.[1] This also means that the gene is not a natural axolotl gene, and that the laboratory stock carries tiger salamander DNA.[1]
Health
The stock center advises ordering larger numbers of albino axolotls “to compensate for those which are infertile or non-viable”. It gives no rate, and it does not say that the gene is the cause.[2] Albino axolotls cannot make melanin, and their eyes are pinkish rather than black.[3][2] The sources used here do not say whether albino axolotls see less well or are bothered by light.
Popularity
Albino is one of the four pigment mutants kept by the stock center, and albino, white and melanoid axolotls have received considerable attention in biological research.[4][5] All colour mutants known to research are also available in the pet trade.[5]
Sources
- Woodcock et al. 2017, Scientific Reports 7: 6 (mutant genes and tiger salamander DNA in laboratory axolotls)
- Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center, University of Kentucky, axolotl strains
- Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center, University of Kentucky, mutant genes
- Voss & Muzinic 2024, Introduction to the Laboratory Axolotl and Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center
- Tyrp1 and the axolotl copper mutant, Scientific Reports 2024