A Case of Melanism in Lepisosteus osseus

Melanism in Endangered Mohave Tui ChubSiphateles Bicolor MohavensisSnyder 1918 (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae)

“…Field-and laboratory-based research has shown that melanic individuals in fish populations are subjected to differential pressures of sexual (Nelson andPlanes 1993, Baer et al 1995) and natural selection (e.g., predation; Horth 2004). Although rare, melanism has been reported in several freshwater fish families including Poeciliidae (Halter 1924, Myers 1925, Regan 1961, Colin 1982, Snelson et al 1986, Lepisosteidae (Goff 1935, Woolcott and Kirk 1976, Pigg 1998, Polyodontidae (Marcoux 1966), Gasterosteidae (Bell 1982), Cyprinidae (Dawson 1964), and Percidae (Dawson 1969, Simon et al 2009, and in some marine fish families such as Paralichthyidae (Dawson 1969), Liparidae (Orlov 2001), and Pomacanthidae (Colin 1982).…”