Aberrations in fish are rare, but extreme aberrations are seldom seen and almost unheard of. Over the years we’ve covered a heck load of aberrant and hybrid fish, but this one today is quite something. RVS Fish World just bagged a really neat aberrant Cryptocentrus pavoninoides, but there’s something unique about this guy.
In almost all aberrants we’ve seen, the fish usually show an abnormal deviation of its basic ground colour compared to the standard wild type, or a misalignment of a barred or spotted design, or even an extension of colour from a defined portion of the body. Rarely do we see a profusion of metallic sheen seen in this example of Cryptocentrus pavoninoides. In the wild type of C. pavoninoides, the head region possesses some metallic green spotting, which can be seen also in the caudal peduncle area of the fish.
On a genetic level, a possible over expression of this metallic green speckling may have occurred and caused the entire right side of the face to be covered in the same metallic green pigment. On the left side, the fish expresses a relatively normal wild type spotting sans the top of its head.
Although over expression of colours is quite a normal mutation for aberrant fish, we almost never see the metallic aspects being profusely exaggerated like this. The only other example we’ve seen whereby the metallic coloured portions are over expressed is in our own aberrant pink spot fire fish.
Take this aberrant N. magnifica for example. In this fish we see an over expression of two genes, one coding for the normal non-metallic pink coloration, and the other coding for the shiny metallic pink. It is safe to say that this fire fish is aberrant both in its metallic and non metallic coloration, and is seen being over expressed profusely on the body region. What may have caused this genetic mutation is unknown, and it was most probably born this way.
As before, it is not often we see the metallic coloured portions of a fish being mutated. However when it does happen, the results can be magnificent, lending a sparkling blotch to an otherwise unassuming common species.
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