Barra Colours

[Peter4]

No, this is not the same thread as Deano's about different lure colours for barra! I was just curious about the different colours of the fish themselves.

Some have claimed that impoundment barra are much darker than their saltwater cousins but I have caught some freshies that are quite pale with yellowish fins. Others are bright silver with dark backs and fins and then there is burleytrail's very dark (almost black) barra from Peter Faust last year.

Are their colours a reflection of their environment or are they caused by genetic factors, or both? Has anyone seen an albino barra?

Yes, I'm bored!

Regs

Pete

Light & dark barra below

[NAGG]

you must be bored Pete

There would be several explanations & there are some qualified people that might know.

My spin would be

Genetics - where are the fingerlings sourced from (I've heard there are at least 12 strains of barra) -
Environment - barra that reside in the weed will often have that golden hue to them.
Water depth favoured could be another .

Chris

[BR65]

Geez thats a dark barra, I havent seen that picture before.
Habitat Im guesing Pete.

Dick P seems to take some happy snaps that really bring out the colors in these chrome beasties, any chance of banging a few up Dick?

[Spin]

I have a couple 50 cm+ barra in fish tanks they can change colour
in a second from being dark grey to bright silver
sometimes even with dark patches all over them like camouflage
depends on their mood,
and they even have different personalities.
One (Barry) is like very calm and cool the other (Bruce) is like a crazy fish
when you go to clean their tanks Bruce goes mental spits at you try's to jump out of the tank ya cant take the lid off,
soon as the water starts to drop he goes crazy.
But Barry he is as cool as.
They are very smart fish they remind me of dogs
They can tell different people apart
If they could get out of their tanks they would be running around pestering you like a pet dog.
They have no feeding times, they tell you when they want food
by the way they carry on in the tanks.

This probably dos'nt answer Peter4s post just my 2 cents worth

[Jeremy87]

There are two possible explanations for variation in colour. The first is just plain genetics, which would be permanent thing ie. if your a barra and you have the gene for silver colour then thats it, your silver for your whole life. The second is something that is referred to as phenotypic plasticity, where an environmental factor dictates a morphological of physiological trait. eg sun tan in people, if you go out in the sun ultraviolet radiation triggers the production of melanin (unless your a ranga), remove the stimulus and you go beck to being pale. You don't want to produce melanin if you don't have to because it is energitically expensive to produce but without it you are more likely to get skin cancer. This allows organisms to adapt to unpredictable environments within their lifespan. I would guess that in barramundi something similar is going on. The epidermal (skin) layer of fish contains special cells called chromatophores. These cells store pigments and move them around for rapid colour change. In the example given to us by Spin his pet barra are shifting pigment rapidly in there chromatophores most probably to communicate. The variation in colour seen in wild fish is most likely the long term accumulation of pigments as a camouflage device

[BobbyJ123]

Have seen 4 albino barra, in the Mary River system around Coroboree...In a very shallow channel.

Cheers, Bobj.

[Batters]

99.99% sure its enviromental. all eat coast barra from about cairns down are the east coast strain and all have the abillity to be dark with dark fins or silver with yellow fins, or somewere inbetween, depending on the enviroment. remember the enviroment can include, structure, food etc. not just water colour.

booby. im interested were the albinos from clean or dirty water?

cheers
mick

[ifishcq1]

here is a rough general guide covering most bases with barras and sometimes you get variations I also have a couple when I find them of almost black fish from my dark tannen coloured creek
1 down from fresh in the past week
2 salty
3 almost albino
4 dam barra

[darylive]

No, this is not the same thread as Deano's about different lure colours for barra! I was just curious about the different colours of the fish themselves.

Some have claimed that impoundment barra are much darker than their saltwater cousins but I have caught some freshies that are quite pale with yellowish fins. Others are bright silver with dark backs and fins and then there is burleytrail's very dark (almost black) barra from Peter Faust last year.

Are their colours a reflection of their environment or are they caused by genetic factors, or both? Has anyone seen an albino barra?

Yes, I'm bored!

Regs

Pete

Light & dark barra below

That's the first aboriginal Barra I have ever seen

[BobbyJ123]

99.99% sure its enviromental. all eat coast barra from about cairns down are the east coast strain and all have the abillity to be dark with dark fins or silver with yellow fins, or somewere inbetween, depending on the enviroment. remember the enviroment can include, structure, food etc. not just water colour.

booby. im interested were the albinos from clean or dirty water?

cheers
mick

G'day mate, they were in clear water. we could see the leaf litter on the floor of the channel...but the water temperature was at 33C. The channel was about 3 metres wide and, at its shallowest, about 60 cm deep (had to lift the leg and pole the tinny for about 5 metres) and roughly 40 metres long, northern end of Coroboree.

Cheers, Bobj.

[matt fraser]

Amazing to see some of the colours in these fish. That black one is the most different I've ever seen.

I've been meaning to post a couple of my own for a couple of days, but I haven't found one of the pics I wanted to show.

Anyway here is a gold one from Awoonga and a chrome one from Mondy.

Cheers

Matt

ps light conditions may have a little to do with the colours - they make the pics look good anyway!