# albino piranhas



## MacW (May 29, 2006)

Are there albino piranhas?


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## oscared15 (Feb 3, 2006)

this is possible though i have never seen this, I googled it to no avail







, if anybody's got pics I'd love to see them


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## kirch24 (Apr 14, 2006)

that would be tight, i also want to see a pic


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## Froogle (Mar 15, 2006)

NO


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## kirch24 (Apr 14, 2006)

i have heard of a white bellied piranha but not an albino


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

I would have to think there are some in the wild, it is just a recessive trait that is probably present in very few individuals, so you would have to get the right two to breed and then still get lucky with the chromosomes crossing the right way.


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## moron (May 26, 2006)

A hobbyist several years ago purchased a purported albino piranha (see images above). This fish while interesting does not appear to have the recessive gene that creates albinism in species. Nor does it exhibit the pink eye associated with such albinism. It could be called a "golden piranha" based on its color alone. The fish is likely a geographic variation, however, sometimes parasites can cause similar problems, but the fish looks in good health. The fish has plenty of red pigments mixed in with the yellow. This could later become redder if the fish becomes ready to reproduce. It was raised in dim light which would help explain part of the reason it lacks the intense coloration of the body. The fish was originally purchased from a piranha breeder in Ohio who has been producing this color (belly) variety for a number of years. The juvenile fish was then sold to another person (who kept the fish in dim light) which eventually made its way to the Pira-News2000 reader. The original fish breeder and I are old friends and I was fortunate to receive a few of these fish as gifts for OPEFE. Fink was also provided some samples and he was surprised the fish maintained its bright yellow belly color after being bred for so many years in the aquarium. Albino piranhas may or may not exist in nature. In my 40 years of examining piranha I have never seen one. Nor has Dr. William L. Fink, though he did intimate the possibility of its existence in nature. As discussed below, such critters are normally eaten by the clan as inferior.

Piranhas raised in little to no light suffer from nutritional losses the sun (or artificial light) provides. The chromatophores (stellate cells) which produce color require certain vitamins which natural sunlight provides. This pigment and refractive granules are important and if they do not get light then certain things can happen to the pituitary gland which controls the hormone (called intermedin).

COLOR OF LIFE BY POPULATION: Read about P. nattereri and its geographical variations (ie; Super Reds, Ternetzi, etc) 
Pygocentrus nattereri, from the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, the type collected from both the Amazon and Rio Paraguay systems, described by Kner (1860) as Pygocentrus. Considered the earliest available name for the undiagnosed species composed of Pygocentrus populations residing in those areas (William L. Fink, 1993).

/http://www.angelfire.com/biz/piranha038/images/spotlessnattereri3.jpg?50m=image


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

piranha dude said:


> A hobbyist several years ago purchased a purported albino piranha (see images above). This fish while interesting does not appear to have the recessive gene that creates albinism in species. Nor does it exhibit the pink eye associated with such albinism. It could be called a "golden piranha" based on its color alone. The fish is likely a geographic variation, however, sometimes parasites can cause similar problems, but the fish looks in good health. The fish has plenty of red pigments mixed in with the yellow. This could later become redder if the fish becomes ready to reproduce. It was raised in dim light which would help explain part of the reason it lacks the intense coloration of the body. The fish was originally purchased from a piranha breeder in Ohio who has been producing this color (belly) variety for a number of years. The juvenile fish was then sold to another person (who kept the fish in dim light) which eventually made its way to the Pira-News2000 reader. The original fish breeder and I are old friends and I was fortunate to receive a few of these fish as gifts for OPEFE. Fink was also provided some samples and he was surprised the fish maintained its bright yellow belly color after being bred for so many years in the aquarium. Albino piranhas may or may not exist in nature. In my 40 years of examining piranha I have never seen one. Nor has Dr. William L. Fink, though he did intimate the possibility of its existence in nature. As discussed below, such critters are normally eaten by the clan as inferior.
> 
> Piranhas raised in little to no light suffer from nutritional losses the sun (or artificial light) provides. The chromatophores (stellate cells) which produce color require certain vitamins which natural sunlight provides. This pigment and refractive granules are important and if they do not get light then certain things can happen to the pituitary gland which controls the hormone (called intermedin).
> 
> ...


pic didnt work


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

piranha_dude, can you try and fix that image of the albino piranha so we can see it? I'm really curious to see it.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Waiting Waiting Waiting


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

taylorhedrich said:


> piranha_dude, can you try and fix that image of the albino piranha so we can see it? I'm really curious to see it.


Visit http://www.opefe.com/nattereri.html if you want to see the false albino pics...







!


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