Anyone have Albino shrimp?

[rostick555]

From the pic just looks like a snowball.

[Soothing Shrimp]

To be fair though, almost any neo shrimp that has no coloring could look like snowball.

[MABJ]

Originally Posted by Soothing Shrimp

To be fair though, almost any neo shrimp that has no coloring could look like snowball.

True enough lol. The only thing that would distinguish them would be stark white eggs.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Yepper. Snowballs would have super white berries if pure, however if crossed I wonder if the eggs would still be white?

[MABJ]

Good question, but you'd think they'd lose the see through exoskeleton as well and have some splotches on it

[auban]

i was thinking about albino shrimp, and i think one exists, we just don't think of it as albino. the one color that exists in shrimp that isn't actually a pigment is blue. its more or less a concentration of quanine in special cells that are called iridophores. a mutation that prevents a shrimp from producing chromatophores or melanophores would have no affect on the blue color left behind, since it isn't produced by a pigment.

in such an instance where a shrimp could not produce pigment, it would probably have a clear to blue body with orange eyes. i doubt there would be enough blood to produce the bright red eyes we see in mammals and fish.

[azjenny]

Originally Posted by auban

i was thinking about albino shrimp, and i think one exists, we just don't think of it as albino. the one color that exists in shrimp that isn't actually a pigment is blue. its more or less a concentration of quanine in special cells that are called iridophores. a mutation that prevents a shrimp from producing chromatophores or melanophores would have no affect on the blue color left behind, since it isn't produced by a pigment.

in such an instance where a shrimp could not produce pigment, it would probably have a clear to blue body with orange eyes. i doubt there would be enough blood to produce the bright red eyes we see in mammals and fish.

Well, then maybe this is an albino shrimp because if what makes mammal and fish eyes red is blood, then the shrimp eyes would not be red, but white because the blood is clear (I think?)
So maybe

[auban]

blood is red because of hemoglobin, which is technically a pigment, but its not used for color. shrimp have different types of blood cells. under a microscope they are very small and few compared to vertebrate blood. albinism doesn't affect hemoglobin, if it did it probably wouldn't carry oxygen properly. in shrimp that have very few or no iridophores, there would be no visible blue.

i would wait and see how the eyes look after it gets a little older. i think the eyes are going to be the best way to determine if it is albino or not.

[Bandit1200]

Shrimps don't have the same type of blood we do and do not use hemoglobin. Their "blood" is a substance called hemolymph and contains hemocyanin which turns blue in the presence of oxygen. This would also add to the blue coloration seen where there is a lack of pigment.

[auban]

true, but i dont think there is really enough to show much of a color in neos. i have seen their blood cells, and they look mostly clear with an odd iridescence(and very few in number). then again, im colorblind and have to use various filters to tell what color im looking at. i havent done that yet(for the blood anyway).

EDIT: something i wonder about though, if lymphocyanin is not bound to blood cells, then what is circulating around in their blood? something is flowing in their bodies...

[R.sok]

The shrimp is still juvenile & the picture i took was under high lighting so it does to appear to be a little clear. But the eyes..I just can't get over the fact that the eyes are a pure white

[auban]

thats pretty exciting. if it stays that way, pull it aside and selectively breed it. you may have to put it in a small breeder net just to be sure of who it breeds with. what sex is it? if it is male, it would be easy to breed in a controlled way. just toss in some saddled shrimp with it and whatever ends up berried is sure to be carrying his genes...

[R.sok]

[MABJ]

I got nuthin'!

Not an albino shrimp. Possibly a color morph though.

[Soothing Shrimp]

I have several shrimp that have exhibited white eyes. Some speculation has been as to whether or not they are blind, however from what I have seen, I don't think so.

I'm not sure about the blue albino theory presented, because in blue velvets and blue rilis for instance, the blue is concentrated in different areas and not uniform throughout. If the color was concentrated in a specific pattern, the pattern would not vary as well. (?)