My First Purebred Litter

[Alaska Satin]

She almost looks like a tan.

An otter is a tan - two names for the same pattern. The gene that produces the pattern is called tan, <at>.

The Tan breed, though, is a small "running breed," very slim and racy. It also has markings that are fairly distinct from other breeds that come in the tan/otter pattern. While an otter has cream/white under its jaw, under its tail, inside its ears and on its belly, with the cream markings being lined with an edge of tan/fawn, a Tan has super high rufous factor that causes all of its markings to be bright red/mahogany. The red of its nape triangle merges with its collar markings and continues in a wide unbroken swath from its chin, down the chest and the belly, all the way to the underside of the tail. It also does not have the ticking that many tan pattern breeds do; its markings are distinct and cleanly delineated from the body color.

Here's the photo of a tan from the ARBA website Tan showing its markings and natural pose (they're a full arch breed, never pushed down or even posed, for that matter).

 

[judymac]

He was a satiny gray when little.

Knowing the color when newborn goes a long way to determining color. So if it was born gray, not black or chocolate or lilac, that sounds like a blue-based color. The fiber has agouti rings, so it's not a tan, which has solid colored fiber.

Normally, a blue agouti (called opal) would not have so much of the fawn showing, that is more expected in a lynx (lilac agouti). And note the apparent banding, you don't see this in a normal opal:

My suspicion is that there is a recessive harlequin gene involved here. The color then if this is indeed a blue agouti with effects from recessive harlequin, would be 'harlequinized opal'. The recessive harlequin allele often causes steel-like ticking.

 

[Buknee]

My suspicion is that there is a recessive harlequin gene involved here. The color then if this is indeed a blue agouti with effects from recessive harlequin, would be 'harlequinized opal'. The recessive harlequin allele often causes steel-like ticking.

Thank you. I definitely agree with you. I have thought him to be an opal, but he doesn't quite fit the picture. Harlequinized would make sense.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Thank you. I definitely agree with you. I have thought him to be an opal, but he doesn't quite fit the picture. Harlequinized would make sense.

And the same is probably true of your opal rex doe (harlequinized).