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albino smooth newt |
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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Posted: 10 Mar 2011 at 6:13pm |
Hi all
I mentioned an albino smooth newt had been spotted in a garden pond which also had a population of some albino toads last year; just got this photo of it from this spring courtesy of Steve Pash, a naturalist based in the vicinity of the pond, which is in Ruislip, North-West London. Still curious as to why the same pond has two species showing albinism - also it's an unusual smooth newt as most albinos also still have gills - suggesting a thyroid problem. This one seems to be a 'true' adult. Curiouser and curiouser... Cheers Will |
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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a couple more I've been sent of the same animal; the one in the hand looks almost golden
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Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
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great find and pix will.
ive read about this (or certainly a similar home counties) garden pond before. a few years ago there was an article/pix in the BHS journal on its toad and newt albinos. sorry, no i cant direct you to it. i only borrowed the publication from a mate. unusual occurrence isnt it? i wouldnt know whats driving it though! if it IS the same pond, are the nos of albinos increasing i wonder? thanks a lot for posting this very interesting item! ben |
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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Cheers Ben - I guess the BHS journal could have been referring to the same pond. I'll see if I can track it down.
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Noodles
Senior Member Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 534 |
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Hi will,
I have seen this a couple of times in Great Crested Newts before; the newts being pale cream/orange with a more pronounced orange dorsal stripe and a slight 'transparency' to the skin. Your Smooth newt (in hand) looks identical in colouration to the GCNs I've seen. They are thought to be amelanistic (or lacking the ability to produce melanin pigments). It is generally considered to be genetic but may also be environmental or chemical (pollution). Thus your two in one pond, the question is which. As with true albinism in Smooth newts you would expect to see signs of neoteny due (as you say) to the corruption of the glands associated with thyroxine production. Either way rare and/or perhaps localised in origin Cheers Rob |
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Noodles
Senior Member Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 534 |
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P.S. red frogs are generally considered amelanistic and
this is associated with inbreeding and genetic isolation (as i'm sure you know). This may be worth consideration if an urban/isolated population of newts...Just a possible theory, don't roast me for it |
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administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Have you got a reference for this? I've been saying for years red frogs were not a good sign in a population, I simply never saw them back in the 70's when frogs actually were 'common' |
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Noodles
Senior Member Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 534 |
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Gemma, I'm not sure where i saw it. It must have been in
a well known publication as i thought it was common knowledge. Likely one of the several Amphibian and Reptile of Britain books or T Beebees book on Frogs and Toads. I'll keep my eyes peeled and let you know if i find it. Caleb, i'm glad you told be that. I had felt that either should be possible (i'm certainly no expert on the subject). What are your thoughts on amelanism in newts? Have you heard of albinism in GCNs? because i have seen what i would call amelanism in two specimens (both looked similar to Will's newt). As the man in the orthopedic shoe said: 'I stand corrected' Cheers |
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Noodles
Senior Member Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 534 |
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That was my understanding of what amelanism was (lacking brown and black [melanin] but exhibiting other pigments), although i also recognise that true 'albinos' will often exhibit pigments accumulated from external sources during adult development(particularly yellow). Elsevier's dictionary of herpetological terms cites the very same. My understanding of true albinism is a lack of all pigments at birth(pink from the blood vessels being the only 'colour' exception)? I'll have a look at that book you mentioned. Many thanks for this Rob |
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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Wow! thanks for all the conjectures folks! At any rate, whether it's albino or amelanistic it's a nice looking animal and the red eye suggests there's no dark pigment production I suppose.
I found out that the BHS article was about this very pond; also that albino toads had been recorded around twenty years ago in a pond just around the corner from the current location, so it's a situation with some history. I have argued that 'odd coloured' amphibians in garden pond situations may be to do with enhanced survival chances in the sheltered environment of gardens rather than in the Darwinian school of hard knocks out there in the wild. This wouldn't exclude the possibility of inbreeding producing more animals exhibiting colour variants in the first place, but equally a reduction in selection against brightly coloured morphs could heighten this phenomenon. |
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