cchd is chinchilla dark. The cchd gene reduces the yellow saturation (pheomelanin) and the yellow is usually reduced to white. There is little to no effect on eumelanin. cchd will allow the production of some but not all the color pigment of your rabbit. If your rabbit is agouti (A), white bands will appear between the dark color bands. If your rabbit is tan (at), the cream and/or orange markings will turn white. This gene also affects eye color, and eyes are often blue-gray.
The rabbits to the left are a fun example of the chinchilla dark gene- one is expressing the gene and one is not. |
cchl: CHINCHILLA LIGHT
cchl is chinchilla light, or sable. This gene also reduces most of the yellow saturation (pheomelanin) and removes some of the darker pigments (eumelanin), giving the rabbit a shaded look. The effect is like that of the chinchilla gene, but further lightens the black, turning it into more of a sepia color. Unlike cchd (chinchilla dark), this gene will leave the eye color dark. |
This allele is the most recessive in the C locus. It is a true, ruby (pink) eyed albino, so an all white rabbit with ruby eyes. This allele prevents ALL pigment from forming and must be homozygous (cc) to be expressed. This allele stops all color from being expressed.
This is a curious allele, as it is a “mask” for the rest of the rabbit’s color and pattern. Think of it like a cloak laid over the rabbit, hiding the other loci. The loci still exist, they are just not visible. You can determine what genes are present in the other loci by studying the rabbit’s pedigree and/or test breeding. |