Hi Madas,madas wrote:
yeah i mostly agree. But i think you can't compare the tail feathers of turq SL-ino with a turq or emerald cleartail. Attached a pic of cleartail turq (heavy turq).
Tail underside is white.
madas
IMO tail underside is creamy . CT induces changes not only in melanin distribution (no comment since it is evident for everybody) but also in psittacin content (as we can see in the CT rec lutino combo, which shows a lower amount of psittacin in the belly). This explains the lower amount of psittacin in the belly and undertail of turquoise CT birds, even if the original turquoise was a "heavy turquoise". Anyway CT seems to act also on the feather structure (and now I join Willy previous post) so that the expresion of other structural mutations in CT birds produce different phenotypes than expected. More, I think that probably the first action of CT is on feather structure, and that this change induces a secondary decrease in the ability of the feather to be "charged" in pigments (both melanin and psitacin). In other mutations acting on melanocytes (pieds and probably opaline) the control of the expression of both pigments is asymetrical with a decrease in melanin when psittacins increase or just the oposite. In CT both pigments decrease in intensity in the same areas, so I do not think that the regulation of both pigments is made at the melanocyte level, but probably as a second hand effect of a primary action on feather structure.
Of course, just speculation ... as ever before (I am too old to change).
Regards
Recio