Cross Genetics!

[jbax]

Jbax, is this what you THINK may happen or have you seen this actually happen in other people's hands?

I would love to see pictures of anyones clowns that produced this diversity of offspring.

i don't think there will be 6 diff patterns in one clutch. but i have seen 4 diff patterns in a clutch in other clowns.

those are what may come out of a clutch layed by 2 s'more clownfish. s'mores are the offspring of a black/white and orange/white snowflake. but thats why i say "will some be...." . we will have to see what the dominate gene will be. also i don't think s'mores have been out long enough for a pair to start spawning. at least i haven't seen any on the forums or from jon at fisheye services. i've had my pair sense sept of 2010 and the female was 8 months old. so it's only a matter of time.

 

[bues0022]

Im guessing that loss of anisotropy in clownfish pattern is the result of a genetic deficiency in a morphogen that controls orange/white boundaries in early development. This deficiency would either come in the form of a genetic lesion (mutation) or in the form of an environmental factor that causes the defect. Since the Picasso pattern is heritable, it stands to reason that it is that it is the result of a genetic lesion, not an environmental factor. For the same reason that the fish would have evolved the striped pattern to begin with (selective evolutionary pressure) the Picasso pattern would be at a selective disadvantage and thus the mutation that facilitates the Picasso phenotype would be a rare variant in wild populations. Yes, it is "natural". Yes it is a mutant. Just like any other rare recessive phenotype is the result of a mutant allele.

There are likely complicated combinatoric mutations/ co-dominance relationships that give rise to these phenotypes.

The idea that smores clownfish will give rise to al of those phenotypic classes is probably 95% not true. I would love to hear about someone who has done it.

Clown fish patterning does not follow the laws of simple Mendelian genetics! That i PROMISE you.

Well stated.