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First record of albinism in a tropical anguillid eel Anguilla bengalensis bengalensis from Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Siti Raudah Abdul Kadir ,
Mohamad Hafiz Farhan Abdul Rasid ,
Li Lian Wong ,
Kok Onn Kwong  and
Takaomi Arai
Siti Raudah Abdul Kadir
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
Mohamad Hafiz Farhan Abdul Rasid
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Aquaculture, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia School of Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
Li Lian Wong
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Aquaculture, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia School of Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
Kok Onn Kwong
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Takaomi Arai*
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: T. Arai, Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia email: arai@umt.edu.my
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Abstract

This study reports the first occurrence of partial albinism in a tropical anguillid eel Anguilla bengalensis bengalensis from Malaysia. This paper also describes the first record of albinism in the genus Anguilla. The occurrence of albinism in our specimen of Anguilla might have been caused by three factors: (1) contamination effects; (2) random genetic alterations; or (3) genetic alteration due to small population size. The present results suggest that the albinism in A. bengalensis bengalensis is probably caused by random genetic alteration. Partial albinism may not be a handicap in the life of the present specimen because the eel could still potentially grow to more than 1 m in total length, just like a normal adult eel.

Keywords

abnormalitiescatadromous eelfish albinismpigmentationtropical fish
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 8 , 2015 , e114
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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