Morph ID

Beau - yes. Thank you. All of that I understand. I guess I am trying to sort out the naming game for categorization at the moment. I know my hatchlings carry the amel gene - there was no way they could not, both parents have the gene. I would have thought that the red or orange eye would have been more dominant over the paler pink, leading to my wondering of if I am looking at a variation. Mom has the orange-red eyes and dad has light pink.

Perhaps humidity could change the rendering your camera creates (shrugs?). Most Amel corns have the same general red/pink eye color, but since the shade of their red or orange ground color zones can vary, so also will the shade of red in the irises. Parts of the eyes are red because they are showing only the blood going through them, but iris color is generally the same as the ground color of a corn. The black you see in the eyes is not melanin (since there is NO melanin in Amelanistic corns), but we believe it is the illusion we see when tissue density is greater, thereby degrading the reflectivity of light. Adjoining tissue that is less dense therefore shows lighter colors AND no black.

I am not sure I am seeing black at all. The black spots on their eyes in the pictures is some odd happenings with the camera. I really understand genetics and albinism. I am just trying to decode the names for what I am seeing morph wise and match it with what I am encountering with the hatchlings? If the eye color is generally the same as the ground color of the snake, then the baby amels I have with pink eyes should look different from their siblings with the reddish-orange eyes as they age? If so, what can I expect?

No. The black spots on the iris are normal and all corns have them. It's just particularly visible in animals showing the amelanistic gene.

My understanding is that the dark spot present in the eyes of amels and other light colored morphs could be a thicker portion of the ciliary body, which controls the shape of the lens and holds it in place, especially in concert with the ciliary artery, one of the larger arteries supplying blood to the iris. However considering the usual placement of the dark edge, I'm not wholly convinced this is the explanation.

Here's an example:



(e) I think it might actually have more to do with the pupillary ruff. I should attempt more hypermacro shots of eyes, though I think I should lower the brightness more. I turned it down quite a bit, but Tango still did not appreciate bright lights in his eyes.

wow! Your camera is amazing Dragonling! I definitely am enamored with macro lenses and their capabilities. Thanks for the explanation on the dark eye spots. That makes perfect sense. Though I have to agree with you that it is possible to have pigmentation of the iris especially since we are constantly finding new information about genetics that defies previous concepts.

Originally Posted by Raven

I am not sure I am seeing black at all. The black spots on their eyes in the pictures is some odd happenings with the camera. I really understand genetics and albinism. I am just trying to decode the names for what I am seeing morph wise and match it with what I am encountering with the hatchlings? If the eye color is generally the same as the ground color of the snake, then the baby amels I have with pink eyes should look different from their siblings with the reddish-orange eyes as they age? If so, what can I expect?

Query your browser for Amel Corns. Sadly, many pictures on the Internet are mis-labeled, but the bulk of the responses to your query will be adult Amel corns. Your will be tempted to think you have Reverse Okeetees, but yours will mature to be more like typical Amel corns. BTW, once you get the responses to your query, they will be listed as articles or pages. Instead of opening each one of those individually, click on the word IMAGES near the top of the page and it will show you only the images. Here is the URL for the response I got from doing that: https://www.google.com/search?q=amel...poDjwQ_AUIBigB. If you expected all Amel corns to look alike, they won't. All Blue F150 Ford trucks are essentially the same--just like all cottontail rabbits are--but in the realm of snakes, you'll see hundreds of shades, hues, tints, patterns and color schemes. This page of images will only give you an idea of how yours will mature. The onlyi way to know for sure is to feed them for two to three years to see them in their adult forms.

Soderbergd - I think that is part of my confusion. I did go online to match up what I am seeing vs what everyone else has experienced. There seems to be a huge range of amel including from reputable breeders and sites designed for morph ID. Mom snake is some form of Amel, so I expect some of them to look similar to her. I do not think I have reverse Okeetee, I was just using those as an example as they are genotypically amel but the phenotypic expression is very specific as are other varieties. Then there are underlying recessive genes, that even in their heterozygous state, cause marked change in coloration, including eye color. What is seems to come down to is that all corns change color throughout their lifetime and you don't always know what you truly are looking at sometimes for a while.