The Phenotypic Expression of Purple Body (Pb) in Domestic Guppy Strains of Poecilia reticulata

Modification of wild-type carotenoid orange and pteridine red coloration and spotting of male ornaments in modern Domestic Guppy Strains (Poecilia reticulata reticulata) by the naturally occurring Purple Body gene (Pb) has been long incorporated into their strains by Pedigree Stock Breeders. It is inherited as an autosomal incompletely dominant trait. Its existence has allowed breeders to produce a vast array of Purple based phenotypes. Photographic evidence demonstrates that Purple Body is a normal polymorphism in domestic guppies modifying color pigmented regions. When combined with currently used mutant genes such as Albino, Blond, Golden, Asian Blau, Coral Red, Magenta, Grass, Moscow, Pink, Platinum, Red Mosaic, Multicolor, and Full Red, startling new phenotypes are created. The recently described Purple Body gene (Bias and Squire 2017a, 2017b, and 2017c) has long been overlooked in research articles and little understood in breeder publications.