>It would appear that the T positive boa is the Sharp strain albino.....What does everyone say about that?

If we define a T-positive albino boa as an ALBINO boa that is albino (pink eyes, no melanin in the skin) for a reason other than a defective tyrosinase enzyme, then the Kahl and Sharp albinos are the two best candidates. In my opinion, either one could be T-negative. And the other would be T-positive. Or BOTH could be T-positive. But until a tyrosinase test is done, nobody knows just what the situation actually is.

If we define a T-positive albino as any boa that has melanin but is lighter than normal, then that includes salmon, boawoman hypo, caramel, the boas usually called T-pos albinos, pastel, etc. Horribly confusing!

In my opinion, boa breeders should follow usual genetic practice. That is to assign each mutant gene a UNIQUE NAME. That name should be roughly descriptive of the appearance produced by the gene. If two mutants have less melanin that normal, name one something like pallid and the other one something like reduced. And the next question to ask is not whether reduced and pallid are T-positive. The next question is whether or not reduced and pallid are alleles and share the same location in the genome. The biochemical action of two alleles will be much more similar than that of two independent mutant genes.

The name should not try to predict the biochemistry. The prediction is likely to be wrong from the start. From the little I know, biochemistry is far weirder than nonbiochemists imagine. Let the biochemists tell us what the biochemistry is when they get around to figuring it out.

Paul Hollander

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