there seems to be some confusion on the forums as to what an albino fish is;
whilst looking into this I found all these other colour variations and what to call them.
it would be intersting to see if anyone has any of the others listed (other than albino/lutino)

Abundism (Abundant)
Markings are more prolific than usual
green tiger barbs are abundant fish

Albinism (Albino [al-bee-no])
Lacking melanin.
Also known as amelanistic. white body (ie lacking melanin) with pink/red eyes (ie lacking melanin in the cornea)..

Anerythristic (Anertino [an-er-tee-no])
Lacking the red colour.
The actual colour and pattern of the fish depends on what other colours are in the pattern. One effect might be a bluish-grey fish.

Axanthic (Axantino [ax-an-tee-no])
Lacking the yellow colour.
The actual colour and pattern of the fish depends on what other colours are in the pattern.

Dilutinic (Dilution)
The colour is washed out
e.g. black becomes blue (grey), red becomes cream, blue becomes lilac.

Erythristic (erytino [ery-tee-no])
Black pigment is converted to red.

Flavistic (flautino [flau-tee-no])
A golden mutation.
The overall effect is that of a yellow fish.
Golden danios are flautino fish

Hypermelanistic (hypermelantino [hyper-melan-tee-no])
Having excessive black and/or brown pigment (usually just referred to as melanistic).

Hypomelanistic (hypomelantino [hypo-melan-tee-no])
Having less black and/or brown colour than normal.
These animals still have some pigment and may simply look "faded".

Leucistic (lutino [loo-tee-no]) Similar to albino; white, but having dark eyes.
fish often have "ghost markings" that are visible in certain light.

Maltesing
Another term for dilution.

Melanistic (melatino [mela-tee-no])
full body pigmentation (often given to full black animals like black leopards ie panther)

Mosaicism (mosaic)
Abnormal black patches of skin cells due to cell mutations in the embryo.

Nigrism (nigrino [nig-ree-no])
Black markings merge into black areas.

Piebald
Having white patches.
Note: piebald is a normal colouration in some animals, this note only applies to animals which do not normally have black or white patches. In normally dark-coloured animals white patches may be due to albinism affecting certain areas of skin; in normally light-coloured animals, black/dark brown patches may be due to melanism. The patches are due to localised mutations in skin cells during embryo development. If the mutation occurs early in development, the patches are larger. If it occurs later, the patches are smaller.

Pseudomelanism.
Combination of Abundism and Nigrism
i.e. prolific markings coalesce to hide the background colour.

Rufism (rutino [roo-tee-no])
Affects the depth of the red pigment turning it from yellow-orange into deep orange-red.

Xanthic (xantino [zan-tee-no]) Having more yellow colour than normal.

Great info, very interesting
It's not fish, but this did remind me of a site I've visited that documents mutant colour variations in big cats
Mutant Big Cats

all those bettas are awesome!!

examples [pics] would be appeciated

Hi Starrynightxxi just e mailed you

This post has been edited by cableguy42: Jul 10 2006, 11:30 PM

Fantastic! Should be pinned

Very Useful...