>>.... If it does pan out that pale = hybino it could suggest the hypo morph results from a reduction in the amount of pigment taken up into cells (or a reduction in pigment cell number/size) and not from a reduction in the amount of melanin produced. Do you have any data to suggest either alternative?



Hey Vinny,



I don't have any data, and i'm not sure how one would make that distinction: It's sort of like looking at a painted wall with rich, deep-looking color: Is it brighter paint? Or was it applied several times? Or was a sealant used first? All we have to observe on the snakes is the "finished product" and i suspect the change from wild-type to hypo could be the result of any or all three of the changes you posit.



Another point worth keeping in mind is that generally speaking the hypo morph has been considered to affect "almost" solely the "black" rings. I say almost because it is generally believed there's a reduction in tipping, too, on hypos, though that could be because a) light tipping is less conspicuous than jet-black tipping or b) because the first hypos came from the Loves' "tangerine dream" line of notoriously clean tangerines, it's logical that line would produce hypos, too, that were cleaner than the average honduran.



My point is that the "paleness" observed on the animals osme people say are hybinos is a paleness in the red rings, or orange rings: Unless we argue that those same changes occur on hypos that are not albino, i'm not sure why we'd expect to see those changes happening on a hypo.



Points for discussion:

--do people think the "orange" in tangerine hypos is lighter than the orange on exceelent non-hypo tangerines?

--what about the color of the narrower mid-triad rings: has anyone ever seen a tricolor hypo with that narrower ring as bright of canary yellow as occurs on some normal or wild-type tricolors?



terry

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