Note on an albino spadenose shark, Scoliodon laticaudus from the north-east coast of India

Albinism is a genetically inherited condition where the pigment protein melanin is either missing or nonfunctional. Individuals with total albinism exhibit total absence of melanin involving the entire body while partial albinism (or leucism) is phenotypically characterized by absence of melanin in parts of the body or reduction of melanin in the entire body or a part of it. It is rare in elasmobranchs as compared toteleosts. To date, 61 species of elasmobranchs have been reported with albinism globally and Carcharhinidae is no exception to this. The spadenose shark Scoliodon laticaudus Müller & Henle, 1838 (Family: Carcharhinidae) is a small shark landed all along the Indian coast in considerable numbers. Leucism has been reported in this species from India (Veena et al., 2011) while this report is on partial albinism in a specimen of S. laticaudus landed at Digha landing centre (East Midnapur, West Bengal, India) by a trawler that operated at a depth range of 30-50m (21°35'52"N 87°54’'47"E). The specimen was collected during routine field sampling on 21st December, 2020, and body measurements were recorded. Morphometric comparisons were made with a normal specimen of the same sex and similar length. Tissue samples were processed for further detailed genetic analysis