A new record of a white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was made off Papeete, Tahiti in July 2019. The individual was completely white, except for grey patterns on its body and on the ventral part of the fluke. The presence of different colourations indicates that this individual is not an albino but a leucistic individual. According to field observations, the individual was likely a juvenile or a subadult. It was seen breaching several times and travelled further north of Papeete, where the animal was recaptured off Arue. White individuals are rare and offer unique opportunities to understand whale movement patterns and potential population connectivity among humpback whale populations.

Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] was applied at various stages of maturity to corn (Zea mays L. ‘Pioneer brand 3147’ and ‘Dekalb XL 394’), soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Forrest’ and ‘Essex’], and johnsongrass [Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.]. Glyphosate applied over-the-top of corn before the grain moisture level decreased to 30% (black layer will have been formed) caused various seed and subsequent progeny abnormalities. Depending on grain moisture level at the time of glyphosate application, seed weight was sometimes reduced and progeny seedling emergence, vigor, and weight were reduced. Also, abnormal seedlings, albino or straited, occurred. Glyphosate applied 2½ weeks or more before soybean maturity reduced seed weight, caused seed discoloration, and drastically reduced progeny seedling emergence, vigor, and weight. Glyphosate applied in September or early October controlled semimature johnsongrass. Later applications were less effective because of advanced senescence.

Albinism is a hereditary lack of pigmentation caused by deficiencies in enzymes related to the metabolism of melanin. This mutation is present in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, including the Holothuroidea class; nevertheless, information about the occurrence of albinism in these kinds of echinoderms is scarce and refers to species from temperate and cold regions of the ocean. In 2013, we observed two albino individuals of Isostichopus fuscus, one at Loreto (25°45′54″N, 111°14′36″W) and the second one at Los Angeles Bay (29°02′54″N, 113°29′49″W). This is the first documented record of albinism for this species.

The batrachoidid Amphichthys cryptocentrus is an estuarine reef-associated species, characterized by a body of a uniformly dark background colour and head greatly depressed. We report colour abnormalities for this species, based on two specimens collected in the south-western Atlantic. Additionally, morphometric data and information about the species’ feeding habits and reproduction are provided. One specimen (most of the body was non-pigmented) exhibited small dark spots over a uniformly white body, but eyes were normally pigmented. Another specimen (totally non-pigmented) was oculocutaneous albino, lacked body pigmentation and eyes were pink-reddish translucent. Potential effects of these colour abnormalities on their ecology and behaviours are discussed.

The first record of albinism in salema (Sarpa salpa (Linnaeus, 1758)) observed in Cabo de Palos, Western Mediterranean, is reported here. The adult specimen showed an overall lack of pigmentation, presented normally coloured eyes and a further local dyspigmentation, being, therefore, classifiable as a partial albino. No noticeable changes in size nor morphology were detected.

Albinism alters the neural projections of the visual system. The authors wondered how this would affect visual function in rodents. They had previously shown that it doesn't alter the luminance threshold. They now explore visual acuity in the albino rat. In this work, they describe its contrast sensitivity function (CSF), as determined electro-physiologically. They recorded cortical visual evoked potentials (VEP) on six albino rats, stimulated by sinusoidal contrast reversal gratings. The curve showed the same characteristics that this function has in other mammals. Compared with the pigmented rat, the albino reached lower sensitivity values and showed a loss of sensitivity at high spatial frequencies. The estimated cut-off was 0.48 c/°, that is, 0.72 log units below the estimated cut-off for the pigmented rat under similar experimental conditions. VEP and behavioral cut-off were very close, the VEP estimation being slightly higher than the behavioral one.

We report the first record of an elasmobranch (shark) with cyclopia and other abnormalities (albinism, absence of nostrils, a bump on the snout and a slight abnormality in the vertebral column). These malformations were found in an embryonic dusky shark Carcharhinus obscurus caught near Cerralvo Island in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Tomographic images were taken to observe these deformities in detail. The causes of these deformities are uncertain but may be attributed to congenital malformation during embryonic development (holoprosencephaly).

This paper reports the occurrence of a specimen of the toadfish Batrachoides surinamensis caught from the Ilha do Maranhão, State of Maranhão, north-eastern Brazil, which exhibited total albinism features.

We have investigated the distribution of ON- and OFF-center responses in the lateral geniculate nucleus of ferrets with normal and abnormal retinal projections. Electrophysiological recordings in normal pigmented animals confirm previous studies on mustelids showing that ON-center responses are found in the anterior, inner parts of laminae A and AI and OFF-center responses in posterior, outer leaflets. In albino animals, lamina A displays normal patterns of ON/OFF segregation but in lamina AI, which receives an abnormal crossed retinal projection, no consistent patterns of segregation are found. Following monocular enucleation on the day of birth, the uncrossed projection in pigmented ferrets remains expanded across the LGN. Anatomically and physiologically, this projection is segregated into two leaflets: an anterior, inner ON-center leaflet and a posterior outer OFF-center leaflet. We conclude that the persistence of ON/OFF segregation, independent of geniculate location, suggests that self-sorting of retinal input is an important factor in generating the segregation.

We have examined the retinal decussation patterns in pigmented ferrets that were either wild-type sable or heterozygous with one albino gene. Unilateral injections of horseradish peroxidase were made into the optic tract and labeled ganglion cells visualized in retinal wholemounts. In both wild-type and heterozygous ferrets, those ganglion cells in the temporal retina with the largest cell bodies projected only to the contralateral side of the brain. The total number of ipsilaterally projecting ganglion cells did not differ with the genotype of the animal. The numbers ranged from 5471–6759 cells. Unlike the cat, there is no difference in retinal decussation patterns in wild-type sable ferrets and heterozygous ferrets carrying one albino gene.

In albinos, the retinofugal projections to the ipsilateral side of the brain are reduced (e.g., see Guillery, 1969; LaVail et al., 1978; Lund, 1965). Although all ganglion cell types are affected, in mice the displaced ganglion cell population is the main target of the albino mutation (Dräger & Olsen, 1980). Here we tested whether this preferential effect on displaced ganglion cells is a general consequence of the melanin reduction or a pleiotropic effect unique to the albino locus, retrogradely tracing tracing retinal ganglion cells in normal C57BL/6J mice and in several non-allelic hypopigmentation mutants on the same background: albino (C57BL/6J-c2J), beige (C57BL/6J-bg), pale ear (C57BL/6J-ep), ruby-eye/haze (C57BL/6J-ru-2hz), and pearl (C57BL/6J-pe). All mutants have lower overall cell counts in the ipsilateral projection, but the displaced population is disproportionately affected: the albinos contain 42% of the normal number of displaced ganglion cells, and the other mutants have an average 57% of normal counts.

The reduction in uncrossed retinofugal projections in albinos affects the inputs to the lateral geniculate nucleus and the superior colliculus, but not to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (Dräger, 1974). To address the question in which way the susceptible uncrossed projections differ from the nonsusceptible one, we compared ganglion cells backfilled from the suprachiasmatic nucleus to ganglion cells backfilled from the optic tract at geniculate level. Whereas the uncrossed optic tract projection originates from the binocular region in the ventro-temporal retina and contains a high fraction of large and displaced ganglion cells (Dräger & Olsen, 1980), both the crossed and uncrossed inputs to the suprachiasmatic nucleus originate from the entire retina with a relative preference for the lower nasal region that corresponds to part of the monocular visual field; all ganglion cells projecting to the suprachiasmatic nucleus are of medium size, and they are located in the ganglion cell layer.

These observations allow the following conclusions: (1) All genetic mutants which cause a reduction in ocular melanin, regardless of the molecular or cell-biological mechanism underlying the pigment reduction, result in decreased uncrossed projections; this confirms previous reports (LaVail et al., 1978, Sanderson et al., 1974). (2) The decrease affects only projections involved in binocular vision. (3) In mice, the ganglion cells displaced to the inner nuclear layer, and hence located closer to the retinal pigment epithelium, are disproportionately affected by the melanin reductions. These observations may provide cues to the spatio-temporal mechanism of the melanin action in the embryonic visual system.

The callosal connections between visual cortical areas 17 and 18 in adult normally pigmented and “Boston” Siamese cats were studied using degeneration methods, and by transport of WGA-HRP combined with electrophysiological mapping. In normal cats, over 90% of callosal neurons were located in the supragranular layers. The supragranular callosal cell zone spanned the area 17/18 border and extended, on average, some 2–3 mm into both areas to occupy a territory which was roughly co-extensive with the distribution of callosal terminations in these areas. The region of the visual field adjoining the vertical meridian that was represented by neurons in the supragranular callosal cell zone was shown to increase systematically with decreasing visual elevation. Thus, close to the area centralis, receptive-field centers recorded from within this zone extended only up to 5 deg into the contralateral hemifield but at elevations of -10 deg and -40 deg they extended as far as 8 deg and 14 deg, respectively, into this hemifield. This suggests an element of visual non-correspondence in the callosal pathway between these cortical areas, which may be an essential substrate for “coarse” stereopsis at the visual midline.

In the Siamese cats, the callosal cell and termination zones in areas 17 and 18 were expanded in width compared to the normal animals, but the major components were less robust. The area 17/18 border was often devoid of callosal axons and, in particular, the number of supragranular layer neurons participating in the pathway were drastically reduced, to only about 25% of those found in the normally pigmented adults. The callosal zones contained representations of the contralateral and ipsilateral hemifields that were roughly mirror-symmetric about the vertical meridian, and both hemifield representations increased with decreasing visual elevation. The extent and severity of the anomalies observed were similar across individual cats, regardless of whether a strabismus was also present. The callosal pathway between these visual cortical areas in the Siamese cat has been considered “silent,” since nearly all neurons within its territory are activated only by the contralateral eye. The paucity of supragranular pyramidal neurons involved in the pathway may explain this silence.

Introduction. Under the sub-tropical climate of India, ‘Sweet Charlie’ strawberry is being grown on a large scale. However, under such climatic conditions, it is not possible to transplant runners before mid-October, because the environmental temperature is very high, and planting after mid-October is also not good because then winter sets in and affects growth, development, flowering and fruiting of strawberry. Under such circumstances, covering of strawberry beds with row covers and mulching with plastic mulch can be useful for early and high production by way of modifying the leaf physiology and producing marketable berries in high number. Materials and methods. Row covers of transparent polyethylene (100-µm thickness) were erected over beds after one month of transplanting of the runners. Mulching (black polyethylene, white polyethylene and paddy straw) was also applied after one month of transplanting of the runners; it was removed only after fruiting was over. Observations on different leaf physiological parameters were made. Results. Row covers and mulching individually or in combination significantly influenced plant physiology, growth, berry yield attributes and albinism incidence. Plants showed better growth and physiological attributes under row covers than without row covers. Plants had the best growth and physiological attributes under black polyethylene mulch. Berry weight and yield were the highest in plants under row covers and black polyethylene mulch. Although the [row covers × mulching] interaction showed the highest incidence of albinism, berry yield per plant (excluding albino fruit) was significantly the highest with that combination. Conclusion. Erection of row covers and mulching in winter is highly useful for better growth and production of strawberry under a sub-tropical climate.

The first case of albinism in the kitefin shark, Dalatias licha, is reported here through the study of one specimen caught by professional bottom trawl in the Gulf of Genoa, Ligurian Sea. The albino surface was quantified and morphometric and meristic characteristics were compared with those of normal specimens of the same sex and equivalent length, caught within the same area. The shark body presented a partial reduction in pigmentation and no morphometric differences between the albino specimen and the normal individuals were observed.

Introduction. Albinism is a serious physiological disorder of strawberries in which fruits appear bloated, develop poor color and flavor, and become susceptible to fruit rot during storage. Many factors have been reported to be associated with albinism, but vigorous vegetative growth of the plants is considered as the primary factor. Mulching is the most important cultural practice in strawberry, which is known to influence plant growth, yield and fruit quality. Our studies aimed at observing the influence of different types of mulch materials on strawberry growth and albinism disorder. Materials and methods. Studies were conducted with five cultivars (Sweet Charlie, Chandler, Douglas, Fern and Etna) cultivated with three types of mulch materials (black polyethylene, white polyethylene and paddy straw). No mulch was used as a control. Observations were recorded on plant growth parameters, albinism incidence and fruit quality parameters of five cultivars under different mulch materials. Results and discussion. All growth parameters were better with mulching than with control. Among the different types of mulch materials, plants had the best growth with black polyethylene, but the fruits were more affected by albinism as compared with those cultivated with paddy straw mulch. Among the cultivars, the plants of Etna showed the most vigorous growth, but their fruits had the highest incidence of albinism (49.88%); those of Sweet Charlie had the lowest incidence (20.74%), primarily because of the close relationship between plant growth and albinism. Conclusion. Black polyethylene mulch favored better plant growth in strawberry, but enhanced the incidence of albinism in a sub-tropical climate as compared with paddy straw. Thus, paddy straw is the best option for use as mulch for strawberry in warmer localities.

Adult albino mammals have specific retinal defects, including reduced numbers of rod photoreceptors. To examine when this rod deficit arises and whether it exists in nonmammalian albinos, we have used absorbance spectrophotometry to measure photopigment levels in dark-adapted eyes taken from three groups of pigmented and albino animals: adult rodents (rats and mice), developing rats, and mature Xenopus frogs. Rhodopsin concentrations were consistently and significantly reduced in mammalian albinos compared to their wild-type counterparts from before the time of eye opening, but photopigment levels were similar in frogs of both pigmentation phenotypes. The results strongly suggest that deficits in the rod cell population arise early in development of the mammalian albino retina, but do not generalize to nonmammalian mutants lacking retinal melanin.

Three case reports are presented concerning 1) Albino MZ female twins, 2) Raynaud's syndrome in MZ female twins, and 3) Pseudohermaphroditism in MZ male twins.