Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!adm!cmcl2!lanl!beta!dd
From: dd@beta.lanl.gov (Dan Davison)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Albino Fish (was Re: The birds and the beaks)
Summary: melanin, cost of producing pigment
Message-ID: <24246@beta.lanl.gov>
Date: 23 Apr 89 00:31:27 GMT
References: <273@acates.UUCP> <1947@ditsyda.oz> <1490@percival.UUCP>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 20

In article <1490@percival.UUCP>, gary@percival.UUCP (Gary Wells) writes:
> >> My example is the albino cave fish, shrimp, and
> >> various varied darkness dwellers. 
> It could also be that the coloring agents in the skin need exposure to UV (or
> some other component) to "darken".  I think that myolin is the pigment agent
> in human skin...


That pigment is melanin.

Another possibility not mentioned in this discussion so far is the
energetic cost of producing a pigment that is unnecessary in a
cave-dwelling creature.  Those who do not produce pigment would
have a small metabolic gain.  A small gain is all it takes, over time.

dan davison/theoretical biology/t-10 ms k710/los alamos national laboratory
los alamos, nm 875545/dd@lanl.gov (arpa)/dd@lanl.uucp(new)/..cmcl2!lanl!dd
-- 
dan davison/theoretical biology/t-10 ms k710/los alamos national laboratory
los alamos, nm 875545/dd@lanl.gov (arpa)/dd@lanl.uucp(new)/..cmcl2!lanl!dd