PURPLE SHRIMP Impossible?

[ShrimpP]

There are so many colors of shrimp out there, but I never seen a real purple shrimp (only photoshop images). Not sure if saltwater ones exist.

The purple zebra shrimp is red to me. Ninja shrimp and rainbow shrimp I don't think have ever been purple.

I have zero knowledge on shrimp genes when it comes to breeding, but I am interested to hear why it is impossible or extremely difficult to produce purple shrimp (out of all the colors of the spectrum). So I am just asking, is it really impossible?

I do know for shrimp genes one simply cannot breed red with blue to get purple since it doesn't work that way in shrimps.

[dr0p]

Not impossible, but overly rare.

 

I have seen VIDEO of a purple neo from a breeder in Singapore. He only has 1 however.

[schaferaquatics]

Ive seen one in phillipines was a neo with a very nice purple shell.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Yes, purple does exist in saltwater shrimp.  I've also seen some kk that supposedly have purple (although others state it is light reflection) and some purple cherries.  I used to have a line I was working with called Plums.

 

So this is an interesting question with a simple but complex answer.

 

In my experiments with neos, I have noticed two kinds of pigment.  One in the tissue that colors it.  One on the shell that colors it.

 

The shell pigments have some basic colors.  For example- red.  This color in its purest form equals a red shrimp.  The color though is actually pointillism.  Made up of little dots.  Stand far enough back and it looks like a solid color.  The more dots squeezed into an area makes the color look more dense.

 

As an example, if a shell has dots of both red and yellow in roughly equal proportions, it can look orange.  The color is not "mixed"- it just looks mixed from our perspective.

 

Now let's take the color of tissue for example.  Far less is known about these colors, but in a nutshell a yellow shrimp is often a transparent shell with yellow tissue.  Same with the original BV, etc.

 

Now if we take a thin pigmented see through shell, and add a body color under it, it creates a third phenotype.  An example is a true bloody mary that has a thin red shell and red body tissue.  Or perhaps a thin red shell with a yellow body making in theory a fire orange.

 

To create purple, it is possible to have a thin red shell with a blue body, or - more commonly- a thin blue shell with red body.  Thus the mixing of red/blue creates the purple look.  These are most of the purples I have seen.

 

Having said that, this type of shell/body mixing is extremely unstable, and will take an incredibly long time to be a true breeding strain.  Why?  Pigmented shell density has a tendency to vary from shrimp to shrimp.  Some pigment is more dense, while others are less dense.  This affects the overall color of the shrimp.  This is also the reason why most people don't have stable PFR lines, but rather a mixture of fire reds and painteds from a single clutch.

 

Now, having said this, we can also say that it may be possible to have two pigments on the same shell create purple IF one color is not dominant over another one making it impossible to have both at exist at once.  In other words, if genetics says you can EITHER have RED or BLUE for the dots of pigment in addition to yellow dots, then you have orange or green jades, but not purple.  But if genetics don't care, then that is certanly a way to do it.

 

Of course there is also the chance of a true mutation occurring.  For instance, I have Nessies that look to have a true green pigment.  Purple may be possible, as well.  Mutations are rare and far in between though.  Once one occurs, you treat it like gold because who knows what may come from cross breedings or out of the line further down the road. 

 

I will say that very rarely are one offs sold from breeders, for the simple reason unless you work with breeding the shrimp, you don't know if it is a "sport."  A mutation not reproducible.  So if you are lucky enough to buy a "sport" from someone, you take the gamble you may not ever be able to reproduce the phenotype even with back breeding.  Sometimes the gambles do pay off though.

 

And yes, you are right.  Just breeding two shrimp together doesn't make instant success.  You can work for years on a line and not have it turn out the way you want it.  I've done that multiple times. But when they do, it is so worth the work!

 

I hope this helps some.

[Bongo Shrimp]

In terms of saltwater shrimp there are a few but this one is the most purple:

 

Stegopontonia commensalis

 

[ShrimpP]

Thanks for all the great info Soothing Shrimp! Very easy to understand now.

and thanks to everyone else who posted as well.

 

Anyone have a picture of a purple freshwater shrimp? Only pics I have seen of freshwater were photoshopped ones.

 

But one thing Soothing Shrimp, not sure if genetics/color of shrimps tissue/shell apply to the regular RGB color spectrum, but if you look at the spectrum you see Red-Green makes Yellow, which then can make shades from Orange and lighter green shades, and Blue-Green can make various shades from turquoise to royal blue, all of which colors are present in todays freshwater shrimp, but why is it so rare (for freshwater shrimp at least) to get purple shrimp (indicated by the spectrum with Red-Blue). I know dark blue is easily obtainable, but why is it so much harder to get to the Violet-Purple-Pink area of the color spectrum?

Are Blue and Red just too dominant of traits, usually resulting in one or the other color and not usually both? But you do mention most purple shrimp are a result of both red and blue pigments.

Like I said, I know practically nothing about shrimp genetics, but I am curious

 

Thanks again!

[MassiveDynamic]

I bought these on amazon. I think they have blue shrimp genetics that are so over exaggerated that it looks like dark magenta, which is to say, brown. My intention is to breed them with blue pearl shrimp and see what diluted variations come out. But the magenta part suggests that this might be a starting point for you.

[EricM]

I've talked to more then a few neo breeders who have different shades of purple that are pretty stable at this point. 

[Soothing Shrimp]

I bought these on amazon. I think they have blue shrimp genetics that are so over exaggerated that it looks like dark magenta, which is to say, brown. My intention is to breed them with blue pearl shrimp and see what diluted variations come out. But the magenta part suggests that this might be a starting point for you.

Must be my monitor.  To me that looks chocolate.

[Lyana]

In terms of saltwater shrimp there are a few but this one is the most purple:

 

Stegopontonia commensalis

 

 

 

That is awesome! Too bad it's not fresh water

[Jadenlea]

It feels like you could some how get them with blue and red rili .   If you had the patience.    Of course I could be completely wrong  it just feels that way

[Soothing Shrimp]

I have had several purple blue bodied rili. However it was very unstable. It all has to do with thickness of see through shell, and boldness of the blue tissue. I haven't put forth the effort to work with a strain.