Angelfish Genetics
Angelfish Color Mutations
There are hundreds of mutations of little importance by themselves,
that occur in angelfish. The following are the new angelfish gene
mutations that have had a major effect on the appearance of angelfish
and whose inheritance characteristics have been discovered. The
letter in parenthesis is the gene notation (shorthand used to track
the genotype).
These are the only mutations whose
allelic inheritance are proven with documented research. The last
being Albino angelfish back in the early 90's. You may see other
websites that list additional mutations, however, at this point
there is no evidence that these others mutations behave in the manner
these websites say they do.
| Albino |
(a) |
A recessive mutation that removes the
pterin and melanin pigments leaving the carotenoid pigment
layer exposed. |
| Dark |
(D) |
A incomplete dominant that is present
in our Blacks and many other dark angelfish. Commonly
referred to as the Black gene, in error. An allele of
Gold Marble, New Gold and Marble. |
| Gold Marble |
(Gm) |
A lightly marked marble that act similar
to the Gold allele in crosses. An allele of Dark, Marble
and Gold. |
| Halfblack |
(h) |
Recessive mutation whose penetrance
may be influenced by modifiers. Environment will influence
the expression of this gene. |
| Marble |
(M) |
An incomplete dominant that is an allele
of Dark, New Gold and Gold Marble. |
| Gold |
(g) |
A recessive mutation that can be hidden
in many strains. Originally referred to as New Gold.
It is only one of a few gold mutations. Naja Gold and
Hong Kong Gold (which are probably both lost to the
hobby) are the other two. New Gold is an allele of Dark,
Gold Marble and Marble. |
| Pearl |
(p) |
Not a color mutation, but a recessive
scale mutation that reflects light in a sparkling manner.
Expressivity is environmentally influenced. The phenotype
is commonly referred to as pearlscale. |
| Smokey |
(Sm) |
A dominant mutation. The phenotype
of an angel that is homozygous for Smokey is known as
a Chocolate. |
| Streaked |
(St) |
A dominant mutation that acts as a
modifier of the Dark gene. It causes white or clear
streaks in the fins and iridescent patches on the body
in Blacks and others varieties containing the Dark gene.
It exhibits variable expression. The streaks can be
one or two fine lines or a bold white stripe. An underlying
mottling can also be seen in (DD) and (Dg) that contain
the gene for Streaked. There is some evidence that it
is now expressing in some fish without the Dark gene
present. |
| Stripeless |
(S) |
An incomplete dominant that exhibits
variable expressivity. It is not a color mutation, but
one that effects the expression of other color genes.
More complete explanation below. |
| Zebra |
(Z) |
A dominant mutation that is an allele
of Stripeless, therefore you cannot have a Blushing
Zebra. |
| Wild-type |
(+) |
The gene that occurs most frequently
in a population at a given gene location. The one that
is designated as normal, is called wild-type. In angelfish,
this is commonly known as a Silver. |
Symbols for Alleles: The initial letter of the
name of the mutant trait is selected, if not already in use. If
the trait is recessive to wild-type, the lowercase letter is used.
If it is dominant, the uppercase is used. The contrasting wild-type
gene is denoted by (+). If the first letter is in use, then we use
the first two letters, the second one, always being lower case.
This angelfish genetics notation standard was adopted by The Angelfish
Society, and is the one we encourage everyone to use
For information purposes we will list Dr. Norton's angelfish
gene notation. This is a more descriptive angelfish notation that
is more useful once learned. Each gene is named by location. The
location name is determined by the first mutation discovered there.
If the gene being discussed is not the original, it is superscripted.
The first letter is uppercase if the allele is dominant over wild-type
and it is lowercase if it is recessive to wild-type.
Locus #1 - Hong Kong Gold (hg), recessive to wild-type. Probably
lost to the hobby.
Locus #2 - Smokey (Sm), dominant to wild-type.
Locus #3 - Stripeless (S), dominant to wild-type; Zebra (Sze),
dominant to wild-type.
Locus #4 - Dark (D), dominant to wild-type; Marble (Dm),
dominant to wild-type; New Gold (dng), recessive to wild-type;
Gold Marble (Dgm), dominant to wild-type.
Locus #5 - Halfblack (h), recessive to wild-type.
Locus #6 - Pearl (p), recessive to wild-type.
Locus #7 - Streaked (St), dominant modifier of Dark.
Using the above notation, the genotypes for the following strains
are given.
Smokey
Chocolate
Ghost
Blushing
DD Black
Black Lace
Zebra (one dose)
Zebra Lace |
Sm/Sm+
Sm/Sm
S/s+
S/S
D/D
D/d+
Sze/s+
Sze/s+ - D/d+ |
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