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

[motiszm]

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.

Here's a quote from the mother of all information...wikipedia on amelanism: "The only pigments that mammals produce are melanins. For a mammal to be unable to chemically manufacture melanin renders it completely pigmentless. This condition is more commonly called albinism."

The term albinism originally was used to describe the condition of amelanism in mammals. The word amelanism means lack of melanin. Since mammals only have one skin pigment its removal results in an animal that is all white in appearance with red eyes. Red eyes because the red of the retina is visible through the iris.

Now here is wikipedia's definition of Albinism: "Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans. While an organism with complete absence of melanin is called an albino ( /ælˈbaɪnoʊ/ American English,^[1] or /ælˈbiːnoʊ/ British English)^[2] an organism with only a diminished amount of melanin is described as albinoid.^[3]"

So albinism means "complete absence of melanin", which is also the definition of amelanism. What they are referring to as an albinoid, we in the reptile hobby generally refer to as a hypo. A reduction of melanin but not a total absence. Hypos retain the normal colored eyes. Amels do not.

Hope this helps

[GrifTheGreat]

Here's a quote from the mother of all information...wikipedia on amelanism: "The only pigments that mammals produce are melanins. For a mammal to be unable to chemically manufacture melanin renders it completely pigmentless. This condition is more commonly called albinism."

The term albinism originally was used to describe the condition of amelanism in mammals. The word amelanism means lack of melanin. Since mammals only have one skin pigment its removal results in an animal that is all white in appearance with red eyes. Red eyes because the red of the retina is visible through the iris.

Now here is wikipedia's definition of Albinism: "Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans. While an organism with complete absence of melanin is called an albino ( /ælˈbaɪnoʊ/ American English,^[1] or /ælˈbiːnoʊ/ British English)^[2] an organism with only a diminished amount of melanin is described as albinoid.^[3]"

So albinism means "complete absence of melanin", which is also the definition of amelanism. What they are referring to as an albinoid, we in the reptile hobby generally refer to as a hypo. A reduction of melanin but not a total absence. Hypos retain the normal colored eyes. Amels do not.

Hope this helps

Albino translates to "white" Which is misused in this hobby quite often. A true Albino like was stated above is white or pinkish in mammals, but there are breeds that are white with red eyes that are not true albinos. In Herps its completely different because their colors are not exactly formed the same way as mammals. Amelanistic can describe either actual albino herps or partial due to one having normal eyes and is usually referred to as the Amelanistic and the ones with red or pink eyes being referred to as the true albino when in truth the term is still misused because they are not white.

[Kira Hudson]

ok the reason i reserected such a old thread was i have the baby albino i got from the expo when i got it was all yellow with pink spots and red eyes now it has some green coloring on its sides is this natural or is there some thing wrong with alby the frog

[JIvoryII]

its normal!... sometimes color fade other times they brighten and they can change as they grow