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AMAZONAS
56
Slavkov’s Bulgarian
Green Gene
Bulgarian Seal Point
Pearlscale at left (D/
Gm - S/+ - p/p - bg/
bg), and Bulgarian
Seal Point (D/Gm -
S/+ - bg/bg)
which was initially brought to the breeding community by Hawaiian breeder Neil Oyama. What’s
exciting is the notion that this could be the genesis of body patterning akin to what can be seen
now in discus. Carol Francis’s pursuit of the expansion of this Snakeskin trait has many breeders
curious—the trait certainly seems to be hereditable. There is also a growing suspicion that Glitter
and Snakeskin have some sort of genetic relationship, although Francis dismisses this notion.
The next big gene?
Perhaps the most interesting new development is the emergence of what some are calling a new
mutation, currently termed the Bulgarian Green (bg) gene. This potentially unique mutation was
discovered by Raiko and Ilia Slavkov, proprietors of Malavi in Bulgaria, in a phenotype that has been
dubbed the Bulgarian Seal Point. Many questions have arisen. Is it really something new? Is Bulgarian
Green recessive? Is it on a new locus? Or is it a new allele on the highly complex Dark locus?
Raiko is convinced that what they’ve found is a previously undiscovered recessive gene, exposed
through 10 years of inbreeding with Dark Gold Marble (D/Gm) and Hybrid Dark (D/g)
lineages. Assuming that our current understanding of the Dark locus and Gold Marble allele
is correct, the Slavkovs performed a test cross of a Blushing Bulgarian Seal Point to a wild-type
angelfish. The results revealed offspring that had either the Dark allele or the Gold Marble allele,
both of which are thought to occupy the Dark locus. Since the Silver angelfish would have
neither, the conclusion is that the Blushing Bulgarian Seal Point parent is contributing either a
Dark allele or a Gold Marble allele to the offspring of this test cross. Raiko explains, “It is not
possible to have a third gene in this locus.” In other words, the allele that drives the Bulgarian
Seal Point cannot be on the Dark locus.
Raiko states that “the crosses I’ve made showed that Bulgarian Green is a new recessive gene
in a new locus. The effect is that the new gene hides the black color in the body area (stripes,
spots, or completely black body) [in] the phenotypes we know. The black color in the area of the
fins does not change.”
It has taken a couple of years of breeding, with the capacity of a hatchery, for Raiko to come
to these conclusions. It will take hard data provided to the Angelfish Society for the Bulgarian
Green gene to be added to the genetic canon. Even if the Slavkovs don’t furnish such data,
someone else might. There is a possibility that Bulgarian Green will be the next big gene making
COURTESTY RAIKO SLAVKOV/MALAVI