Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok... those of ya with Salmon experience, here's a question
I've been wondering today:
Does the salmon trait start to degrade after many gens of F1s?

Let me use my salmon as an example...
this is her mother:

this is her father:

As far as I know, the father was an F1 salmon (from salmon x normal)

Breeding the father to the mother produced my F1 salmon:

Now, if I breed her with a normal male, I would supposedly get
1/2 salmons (F1s again). Wouldn't breeding the orignal
salmon gene thru so many normals start to degrade (or lessen?)
the amount of influance the gene has on the overall look and
coloration?

this has been Coffee Talk with your host, April
lol

is it friday yet?

np

From what I understand genes are there or they aren't. If you keep breeding your salmons to "ugly" snakes then you will end up with a not so attractive salmon, but the amount of salmon in its blood won't change. If I am wrong sorry.

If the particular 'look' is caused by selective breeding, and not a particular gene, than it will start looking 'less' as you continue to breed it to normal snakes.

But Salmon, as I understand, is a genetic trait, like albino (though one is codominant and the other recessive, that doesn't change the fact it is caused by a single gene)...you could probably get better-looking salmons by breeding to a better-looking snake, and vis-versa...I don't think it would lessen the influence of the salmon gene.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

Yes, the hypo/salmon gene is a dominant trait and is a yes/no kind of deal. The gene will, barring any further mutation, produce the same results generation after generation. However, the gene in question only affects melanin. There are other factors at work concerning color and pattern and both parents will have an equal influence on these qualities.

: Yes, the hypo/salmon gene is a dominant trait and is a yes/no kind of deal. The gene will, barring any further mutation, produce the same results generation after generation. However, the gene in question only affects melanin. There are other factors at work concerning color and pattern and both parents will have an equal influence on these qualities.

This goes back to what BrianD wrote -- that if you keep breeding salmons to ugly snakes, you get ugly salmons. But they are still salmons.

Paul Hollander