Soothing Shrimp Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I was doing some research on shrimp pigment and found out that shrimp color- such as different types of albinism is not related to melanin; that's a mammal thing. Instead, crustation pigments are all carotenoids. Not surprising when you think about it, and something which I guessed already. However upon further research I found why astaxanthin causes color change. In my past experiment with neo yellows, feeding astax causes a color shift from yellow to greenish to blue to brown. Why is this so, when in fish it can make them redder? The answer lay in how the molecule is constructed. When astaxanthin is relaxed it is red, when compacted it is blue. In crustations it does not occur in it's basic relaxed form when eaten; instead it’s mostly bound to a protein called crustacyanin that causes it to compact. Thus causing a bathochromic shift. In other words, since this string winds up being crumpled up and forced into into another molecule, it behaves as a blue/brown pigment. An example of this is a normal brownish lobster. Cook that lobster and it turns red. Why? Because the protein that compresses the astaxanthin is broken and the astax then is free to go to relaxed form. So color of the tissue/shell is from differing amounts of free and bound astax in different layers of the shell, how thick the shell is, and whether astaxanthin is closer to the surface or in a deeper layer. mayphly, Pika, 35ppt and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 So in very simple words, astaxanthin makes shrimp blue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slycat929 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Excellent info! Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 If bound, it can make tissues/pigment bluish-brown. So in very simple words, astaxanthin makes shrimp blue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Interesting information. Where did you get it from? Can you post links? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC125020/ More references are available at the bottom of the paper. Hope this helps. Interesting information. Where did you get it from? Can you post links? Steve R. and miwu 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimple minded Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Amazing information. Thanks for sharing. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHe Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 What's the food you use which has high Astaxanthin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I don't. I made it a point not to feed my neos astax anymore. The new omoniapro does not have astax, I am told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 When Astaxanthin was in it's hype period, I fed them to my shrimp. The result is that there is no obvious change in colouration or any other benefit. Astxanthin is a good source of algae supplement, but the price is crazily high and does not prove it's value when feeding to shrimp. Shrimp's colour shifting is usually caused by the colour of the environment and/ or the colour of lighting. Pretty similar to octopus or squid. Hence, I don't think food will affect your colour changes. Given said that, if a shrimp does not have good nutrients in take or when they are stressed, they will be weak and their colour gland/ cell will not be able to display rich colour. mayphly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I agree that environment has a great deal to do with coloration hyoushoku. However astaxanthin also has an effect on neos for certain. Here's a short post of my own test of astaxanthin on neo yellow shrimp: As you can see, it changed the color quite dramatically. http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/1665-omniapro-for-yellow-shrimp/page-2#entry24037 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Interesting to know. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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