Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased this adult male Anaconda off Kingsnake's Classifieds, where he was listed as a Yellow. He looks a bit different from all the Yellows I've ever seen, though. His blotches are solid jet black, with no lightening in the centers, and his head is much darker than any I've seen, almost reminding me of the head pattern on My African Rock Pythons. Is this guy just a somewhat-aberrant Eunectes notaeus, or what?
He is a very docile snake, in spite of his size and the rep that Anacondas have. Due to his size, it's hard to get a photo of the entire snake.

As you know, melanism occurs with varying degrees among yellow anacondas, I have a breeding pair, the male is reduced melanism and the female is quite dark. The litters I have produced are all born quite dark, and after the first couple of sheds start to show which ones will lighten as they get older, a couple will be quite reduced, a couple dark, and the majority somewhere in the middle. I believe though they could be line bred to be high contrast or very reduced melanism.
Mike

As Mike alluded to, yellows are highly variable in appearance. Actually, I believe that E. notaeus is one of the most variable in pattern and color of all boid species. I've seen dark ones as you have here, and others that are so pale that the pattern is barely visible, and all variations in between. One reason for this is probably the immense geographical range over which this species is found and the different types of wetland environments which it inhabits.

Kelly