Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

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Tengisgol
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Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Tengisgol »

We do see this also in other fish; chub particularly and I’ve just seen it on a crucian. Does anyone know what causes this?

First a Wensum roach:

Image

And this one from a stillwater:

Image
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Reedling
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Reedling »

You often get various colours present themselves on birds and other mammals. White on Blackbirds and crow members, yellow on greenfinch, Cinnamon on Sparrows etc. I wonder if it is something that goes wrong genetically to throw these odd colours, which I know have been exploited in the past to breed animals of rare colouration for domestication etc.

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Richard Jackson
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Richard Jackson »

This happens often on Lepidoptera and is caused by extreme cold or extreme heat whilst they are in pupal stage , maybe the same thing happens when they are fry having this effect
Last edited by Richard Jackson on Tue May 28, 2019 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob Brookes
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Bob Brookes »

They’ve been tangoed🧐🤔😂
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Wallys-Cast
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Wallys-Cast »

I wondered if it could be breeding colours. Some fish like stickleback change or add colour in the breeding season.

Wal.

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Tengisgol
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Tengisgol »

Wallys-Cast wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 6:17 pm I wondered if it could be breeding colours. Some fish like stickleback change or add colour in the breeding season.

Wal.
I think it would be a bit early Wal, the Wensum roach was caught like that in December.
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Wallys-Cast
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Wallys-Cast »

Tengisgol wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 7:31 pm
Wallys-Cast wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 6:17 pm I wondered if it could be breeding colours. Some fish like stickleback change or add colour in the breeding season.

Wal.
I think it would be a bit early Wal, the Wensum roach was caught like that in December.
Ah, in that case it's obviously its Xmas party colours. :Chuckle: (sorry couldn't resist it)..

Wal.

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Olly
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Olly »

I thought it was fungal infection. Cannot find much on the internet though?

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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Jeremy Croxall »

Bob Brookes wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 5:24 pm They’ve been tangoed🧐🤔😂
:laugh1:
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Phil Arnott
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Re: Orange pigmentation in roach, what causes it?

Post by Phil Arnott »

I suspect it's due to a form of infection possibly causing a malfunction of the chromatophores. The reason I think this may be the case is because I've often seen similar orange patches surrounding a black spot infection. In this case you see an orange spot with a black dot in the middle. It's quite possible that the black spot parasite allows some other infection to enter the skin.

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