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What is Hypomelanism?
Hypomelanism
(aka "Hypo") is a Bearded Dragon morph where the amount of
melanin (the same brown pigment responsible for a sun tan in humans) produced by the
skin is greatly reduced. This makes the dragons much lighter in colour. The
effects of this are two-fold. Firstly, the dragon tends to be lighter overall.
Secondly, any other colours are not affected, but are not dulled by the brown.
This makes hypomelanistic coloured dragons far more bright and vibrant.
We have had a number of hypomelanistic babies hatch this year
- they are almost totally white on hatching:
The baby on the left and the baby in the middle are Two
Day-Old Yellow Hypo Pastels. On the right is a sibling from the same clutch of
eggs, to show the difference in colouration.
Hypomelanism is determined by a recessive gene. Genes such as
this are far fewer in Bearded Dragons than in other species, such as Leopard Geckos.
For an individual to be hypomelanistic, it must carry two copies of the
hypomelanism gene - one from each parent. Individuals with only a single
hypomelanism gene appear normal, but can pass the gene on to their offspring.
This means that two normal looking bearded dragons can produce some
hypomelanistic babies, if both parents carry a single copy of the hypomelanism
gene. Hypomelanism is usually associated with having Clear Nails as well,
although recent talk from the US suggests that the two may, in fact, be
controlled by separate genes, which are geographically very close on a
chromosome, and almost always get inherited together due to Gene Linkage. I
personally am somewhat dubious about this, given how long it's taken to
"surface". Time will tell.
Hypomelanism often goes under several different names, and
leads to other "morphs":
* "Hypo" (Generic term for any Hypomelanistic Bearded Dragon)
* "Hypo Pastel" (Usually animals which have reduced brown,
but other colours instead -
Yellow Hypo Pastel)
* "Snow" (The least patterned Hypos, with almost no other
colouration -
Snow)
* "Leucistics" (Mainly in the US. These are not "true"
Leucistics, as they have some colour. Often an alternative name to "Snow")
Hypomelanism is a line we intend to work with in the future,
due to its potential to increase colour vibrancy. Check out our
Future
Plans page for any impending breeding projects.
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