But the difference is that you typically give a new morph a new name that is visually different. Mark Bell and Dave Hewitt still called both of their animals Silvers, and lo and behold, they turned out to be the same genetically.



With the white color and the missing scale of the Hwy 277 Albinos and the Orange color and intact frontal scale of the River Road Albinos, the Barkers and everyone else still called them Albinos -- even though they had their suspicions that they were different genetically.



I mean, if you found a Blonde 10 miles north of their usual range, would you give it a new name other than Blonde? Of course, not. Why would nature produce the EXACT same mutation twice AND so close geographically?



Answer: Because it's most likely the same allele, and even if it wasn't the same allele, then it's the SAME mutation at a different locus.



I know I've seen several places on the web where you and all of those people I mentioned called them some version of "Black Gap Silvers" both here and on the RSF web site. How is that not assigning a name to them? Several have been sold under that name already. When I visited Ric Blair on occasion, he called his half "Hets for Black Gap Silver". Isn't Ric the co-discover, for crying out loud?



Don't think I'm being contentious, Aaron. I'm not. I really don't care what you call them, but I just don't understand why you'd do it all-of-a-sudden. IMO, having the name Mercury for the same visual morph as Silver will only create confusion in the hobby, especially when the two are most likely the same genetically, and also especially that you haven't tried test-breeding them yet.



If I were to see the name, "Mercury Subocs" advertised, I'd think "Wow, someone has created a new morph." Especially if that someone advertising them knows of the existence of Silvers.

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