New Blue Morph

[black_sun]

I was cleaning out my Marmorkreb tank today, since one of my juvenile Bullheads massacred my latest brood (and little floating bodies don't make for good tank conditions). *curses the hungry little catfish*

In any event, as I was scooping up the adults and the surviving juvenile I made an awesome discovery. One of my adults is turning blue! Like, completely blue (since the legs and claws turning or tinting blue is normal in Marmorkrebs, a result of a high protein diet).

It's so neat! I mean, blue morphs (or other morphs) occurring in crayfish (and in wild-caught crayfish in captivity) isn't all that grand. But for a species that is supposed to be genetically identical to the parent, the color morph is really awesome to me!

http://i41.tinypic.com/ot1zll.jpg
Normal colored Marmorkreb and the blue morph Mamorkreb.

http://i42.tinypic.com/6nzbqt.jpg
A little more impressive in real life, since you can see where the grey spots are now turning navy blue. So neat!

I'm really curious to find out why one crayfish has begun to color morph when the others haven't. They're in the same tank, so the conditions are the same, they're eating the same diet, they're growing at similar rates... it's very intriguing.

[Inka4040]

Indeed. A very interesting specimen to watch. Maybe this lil lady warrants her own digs?

[black_sun]

Indeed. A very interesting specimen to watch. Maybe this lil lady warrants her own digs?

I'm thinking she does. If for nothing else, just so I can keep her offspring separate from the others to see if the trait is passed on in anyway. Plus, she's obviously become something unique... don't need her getting bullied or hurt by anyone. ^_^

[stezatois]

very pretty, and looks like shes not bothered much about being handled either

[black_sun]

very pretty, and looks like shes not bothered much about being handled either

Mamorkrebs are a particularly passive species and are generally easy to handle. That one is a little sweetie, she'll climb all over my hands and take food from me. ^_^

[southerndesert]

Very nice crays and the blue is very nice indeed.

[snappyguy]

Awesome cray!

[black_sun]

My blue Mamorkreb berried!

http://i42.tinypic.com/np2m2d.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2z85gmp.jpg

Normally, this wouldn't be exciting as Mamorkrebs berry every other month roughly. But when I was talking to other Mamorkreb keepers about my crayfish changing colors, the common theory was that it had to do with pH levels and having a tank without lights. Well, since all of my tanks have lights that theory was out, and while pH may have something to do with it, I couldn't completely accept that idea as only one Mamorkreb turned blue and the others didn't (and still haven't, so same tank/conditions/etc but only one was affected?).

Anyway, I moved the blue Mamorkreb and her one surviving juvenile to another tank, and the juvenile started turning blue as well. So, now I'm anxious to see if any of this brood will display the blue coloration and see if maybe the color morphing is a genetic anomaly in certain individuals. *shrugs* Who knows, but I think it's cool ^_^

[pik01]

sweet! and that cray looks none too happy about having her berry photographed lol poor gal.