Normal X Pastel

[hoo-t]

I think the homozygotes should all be called supers for whatever the heterozygous animal is, because of mutations like the mojave, lesser, butter, yellowbelly, goblin, etc. If one guy is selling a BEL for $2,500 and another guy is selling a BEL for $2,800, people might thing they are getting a better deal with the cheaper one, not knowing that the cheaper one os a super mojave while the more expensive one is a super butter. If everything was labeled a heterozygous goblin or a homozygous goblin or super goblin, things would be easier for a lot of people, and it would reduce scams and misleading ads. If anyone tries selling a het for a co-dom and it looks normal, they are obviously lying. In general, people should know better than to buy a het for pastel or het for spider if the animal is obviously a wild type animal. Het means the animal carries one copy of the mutated gene. Doms and co-doms show that in the phenotype. Homozygous means the animal carries both copies of the gene. In recessives this is the visual, and in co-doms it's the super form. Anyone buying these animals to breed should already know this.

Excellent post, Jake! I was thinking about this last night, only from a different angle. I was thinking that everything should be named based on the homozygous form. Its already the case with recessives, and to a much lesser extent, co-doms, ie Opal and Ivory. I think if the pastel and yellowbelly names were dropped, and the heterozygous animals were simply called het Opal and het Ivory, there would be much less confusion. Spiders and Pinstripes would fall into place as well (assuming they're proved dominant). But, as you said, the blue eyed leucistics present a problem with that. Probably doesn't matter, though, because the names are in place and are probably going to stick!

In any event, I think discussions like this one are incredibly valuable. The people who don't understand the genetics can come away with a much more thorough understanding.

Steve

[ctrlfreq]

I was thinking that everything should be named based on the homozygous form.

There is a small, cart-before-the-horse, issue with that approach to naming though, as we would have to hold off naming a morph until both the heterozygous and homozygous permutations have been proven.