Albinism.........True??

[IvoryReptiles]

Okay, I keep hearing folks talking about albinism and how what we are calling albino in our frogs is not True Albinism. So I went researching and found this much :

True Albinos (amelanistic albino) have NO trace of melanin on their body.

There are many other conditions, that are confused with albinism in animals. Some animals are pure white in color, but are not albinos. You can identify a true albino animal with its eye color. A true albino lack melanin totally and will have no markings on their body and their eyes will be pink or red. This eye color is not common in humans. In case of true albino animals, the blood vessels in the retina are seen through the eyes that lack melanin (that makes the eyes opaque). Their nails, skin and scales will also be pink or white in color. Partial albinos will have eyes that are blue or normal colors. There are some other conditions in animals, that are related to albinism. While axanthic albinos (axanthism) lack yellow color on their body, anerythristic albinos lack red color. Albinism is also mistaken with leucism, wherein the animal have a very pale or white color, but will have dark eyes. They do not lack melanin and can be identified with their eye color.

Quote source: Buzzle.com

I also found some useful info on this page : What Causes Albinism in Animals?
And this page as well: What Is an Albino Frog?
In conclusion, any frog that is yellow/pink/peach in it's coloring and possesses red/pink eyes is a True Albino.
The Phantom Frogs supplied by Samurai in Japan are actually a combination of :
Axanthic : lack of yellow pigmentation
Anytheristic : lack of red pigmentation

And then there is this:
Amelanistic: lack of black & brown pigmentation

Now, I have noticed that in our tadpoles & froglets, we have what we have been calling "Albino" because of the yellow/pink/peach coloring and lack of dark pigments are actually two types of frogs in the end........some have normal eye pigments while others have the red/pink eye coloring associated with albinism.

After a discussion with some Science Folks involved in Biology & Herpetology that are acquaintances of ours, we have come to the conclusion that the frogs with regular pigmented eyes are actually Amelanistic, while the frogs with the red/pink eyes are True Albinos.

I am now on a mission to get photographs of the differences so that I can in the future distinguish between the two and when selling them, will be accurate in labeling them correctly.

Just thought I would share this information with everyone..........discussion is welcome!