Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI

I found this old black and white book at my local pet store and it showed a picture of a blue green anole. How is that possible? is it a lack of soemthing or a very rare gene that comes into random green anoles and their siblings? How many have been ever recorded? please answer these questions

Big P

Xanthophores (reds and blues)
Iriodophores (yellow)
Melanophores (black)

These are the pigments that make up the Anoles look. Blues and Yellow are the most active, blue and yellow makes green. As for the melanophores, they are only active when the anoles is stressed, cool, and basking-making the skin darker(brown). The the black pigment (melanophores) is absent the lizard would be lime green (albino). When the yellow pigment is absent the anoles are blue, these are really rare. Ive never seen a true blue anole but I have seen the blue-greens which would later turn green or brown (back to normal). Ive seen a picture of a blue anole on Reptiles USA magazine but personally I dont thats the true blue anole, it seemed more blue-green.

By the way its been a while since Ive ooked into animal pigments so I might have gotten the xanthophores and Iriodophores mixed up, or miss-spelled them.

You got them reversed. The Blue Phase Green Anole is xanthic (i.e., lacks yellow pigment). They occur in the wild in the ratio of approximately 1:20,000. I would love to get my hands on a pair of them!

thanks for the correction-