Albinism in Flounders

In humans albinism is a condition in which the skin lacks the pigment melanin but has many affects on the human body. Not all animals suffer ill effects from albinism and you may have heard stories about the discovery of albino animals. Some animals that are labeled "albino" may seem to be incorrectly labeled. An albino rhino for example, may not appear "white" enough. Even "white" people normally have some melanin in their skin, but true albinos have little or none.

Animals like polar bears are not considered "albino" simply because their fur is white. The snowshoe rabbit changes a bit in coloration from the summer to the winter, but is mostly white throughout the year. In general the discovery of a true albino animal will promote news articles about the animal or prompt some type of scientific study.

In the 1960's I participated in a summer program at the Sandy Hook Marine Lab in Sandy Hook New Jersey. This was a summer program for science students wanting to do some additional study for a few weeks in the summer. Such programs are vital in stimulating student interest in science and I felt honored to be allowed to participate. A couple of days a week we would be allowed in restricted areas of Sandy Hook and were allowed to use large nets to capture small fish that would be used in the lab.

At this time, just after Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring", (Houghton Mifflin, publisher, September 1962.), there was a great interest in pesticides and their affect on the environment and this also include the effect of detergents. The lab had received funding to do research on these topics in relation to a variety of fish species. We had to catch the fish, quickly classify them, and get the kinds they needed to the lab as quickly as possible.

We all learned a great deal about the fish in this area, but I was fortunate enough to personally discover an albino flounder. It was very small, only about an inch to an inch and a half, but I was excited. We kept this discovery isolated and the lab was also excited about the discovery. Because of this discovery I began to do research on the flounder and specifically on the albino flounder. One of the scientists at the lab even provided a reprint of an article about albino flounders for me to read. I discovered that they are not likely to survive long for a variety of reasons. They have deformities in their structure which could be deadly, but probably the fact that they would not be able to hide from predators was the biggest factor in their low survival.

Flounders skin coloration on the upper surface mimics the coloration of their sandy environment, but if they are raised in a fish tank with a checkerboard pattern they will make an effort at a checkerboard pigmentation pattern. How they are able to do this is still not clear since both eyes are located on the upper side of the body, which does not "see" the bottom.

The flounder I had discovered still had an eye on each side of the body, but my research showed that the eye "migrates" with growth usually over the bridge of the nose to the other side, but can migrate through the head itself. We all felt the thrill of discovery and we worked hard in the field and in the classroom. Our instructor was: "Mr. Gailbraith" and the fact that I can remember his name shows the impression that he made on young lives.

I am thankful that Sandy Hook marine lab gave us the chance to participate in a meaningful way and encourage us to possibly follow a scientific future career. We also had fun and developed a lot of friendships. I remember learning to use a "fish key" to identify fish and the use of classification schemes in general. We had a lot of other interesting experiences at the same time. That year there was a bloom in the jellyfish population. The lab was concerned that this could be related to pollution in some way, but it later appeared to be more some kind of cyclic process. Even though I personally never became a marine biologist, this was considered as a career path for awhile.