![]() Piebalds are not a distinct morph unto themselves from regular dirty leucistic axolotls, however. Usually this dark pigmentation is concentrated on the face and dorsal ridge of an axolotl, though some piebalds are known to have large dark spots all over their body! Piebald axolotls are dirty leucistic axolotls which have melanophores (dark skin pigmentation) in much higher concentrations than any other leucistic axolotl. These axolotls for the longest time were thought by breeders to just be light copper melanoids, but they are actually a hypomelanistic axolotl! They produce way less pheomelanin pigment than a copper melanoid axolotl normally would and, as a result, tend to have a beautifully pale coloring that can easily be mistaken for a leucistic or albino axolotl! Some hypomelanistic copper melanoid axolotls also display beautiful xanthophores along their heads and bodies and also develop darker spots of pheomelanin along their dorsal crest. Hypomelanistic Melanoid axolotls are one of our personal favorite morphs! Because of the reduced black pigmentation in their skin, the xanthophores beneath their skin become more evident, which causes the axolotl to take on a range of hues from white, to gray, or to a pale lavender color! Some hypomelanistic melanoids will even have very high concentrations of xanthophores on their faces and along their backs! They also tend to develop darker spots of melanophores along their head and back as they grow! It also has a scattering of reddish brown spots along its entire body instead of black like the regular hypomelanistic axolotl! These axolotls look like they could be non-albino golden axolotls but are actually coppers (denoted by the red pupils) with a reduced development of pheomelanin! Not to be confused with a normal Hypomelanistic axolotl, the Hypomelanistic Copper is also an incredibly vibrant yellow and shiny color of axolotl with a surplus of iridophores along its gill stalks, caudal fin, and legs. So, this axolotl morph is exceptionally yellow and shiny with a scattering of black spots along its body! These axolotls, as well as Hypomelanistic Copper axolotls, can easily be confused with a Non-Albino Golden axolotl for those who don’t know what to look for, but they are something else entirely. The other color pigments, xanthophores and iridophores, as a result of not being covered by black and brown skin pigment, now appear much more pronounced. Hypomelanistic axolotls only express the hypomelanistic gene and no other! They normally would appear as a normal wild type axolotl, but because of the recessive hypomelanistic gene,they haven’t developed as much melanin in their skin. This entry is different from the others as it actually encompasses several morphs of axolotls, but currently they are all similarly rare! Hypomelanistic axolotls are extremely unique because they are the newest color of axolotl to be discovered! Hypomelanism is a brand new mutation that means that all the dark pigmentation of an axolotl is produced at a lesser rate than it would normally! What’s more, the hypomelanistic gene can occur in various combinations with other heritable genes! So far, the known variations of Hypomelanistic Axolotls are: Hypomelanistic ![]() ![]() They are melanoid axolotls, which means they completely lack all light reflecting skin pigmentation, called iridophores, and have a surplus of dark skin pigmentation! They are also axanthic, so they lack all yellow pigmentation, called xanthophores! And they are also copper, so the skin pigment that should be black, eulmelanin, is instead reddish brown, pheomelanin, resulting in the axolotl you see above! It takes careful tracking and determination of genetics, bloodlines, and selective breeding to produce a Melanoid Axanthic Copper axolotl! The difficulty in breeding the correct genes, as well as the fact that melanoid axolotls have weaker immune systems due to a lack of pteridines, make these axolotls one of the rarest morphs in the world! MACs are one of the rarest axolotls that can be selectively bred because they express three recessive traits simultaneously. Melanoid axanthic copper axolotls, or MACs, are gorgeous axolotls! They are a beautiful lavender-hued brown whose gills can become a deep magenta when “fired up”. ![]() Each and every axolotl is a unique individual, but some possess colorations that are more rare than others! In this article we will talk about the most rare axolotl morphs in the world and what makes them so unique and difficult to find! Melanoid Axanthic Copper Axolotl Axolotl colors are determined by their genetics, and the morph name is usually chosen by breeders in a way to help people quickly understand what specific genes are being expressed by an axolotl. A morph is not a true scientific identifier, but it is the common term used by axolotl breeders and enthusiasts all around the world to describe a specific axolotl color, or phenotype. ![]()
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