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	Why is my dead shrimp pink?
skinny (ish) Fish Addict Posts: 506 Votes: 35 Registered: 05-Sep-2003	I've just found one of my amano shrimp dead and he's gone pink! Why is this? I've no idea why it died either, but hoping the colour is a clue to someone in the know? *skinny (ish) attached this image:*
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27
Veneer Enthusiast Posts: 174 Kudos: 146 Votes: 0 Registered: 17-Oct-2004	Crustacean chitin generally contains the reddish pigment astaxanthin, the molecules of which are typically masked by darker protein chains. As aficionados of edible "shellfish" should well know, the structural deterioration characterizing the death of its possessor compels this protein to denature, freeing otherwise concealed astaxanthin tints.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27
Callatya Moderator The girl's got crabs! Posts: 9662 Kudos: 5261 Registered: 16-Sep-2001	Geez Veneer, I knew that, but that explanation just blew my mind How technical Its nice to know the whys of things I would have just said something about pigments and cell breakdown, but yours is far more fun For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27
Cup_of_Lifenoodles Fish Guru Posts: 2755 Kudos: 1957 Votes: 30 Registered: 09-Sep-2004	HA! I actually know a bit on the subject at hand (I'm not generally an invert person). Astaxanthin isn't neccessarily masked by the other proteins, persay. Rather, whence bound to other proteins in the carapace (or scales in the instance of fish), it can obtain a spectrum of many different colors. The reddish tinge shown does not usually come out in even the deadest of shrimp, as it is very slow to denature. Rather, I suspect the fish was exposed to air, placed atop a heater, vigorously shaken by the filter intake, or rasped on by hungry tankmates.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27
robbanp Big Fish Posts: 367 Kudos: 808 Votes: 205 Registered: 08-Sep-2003	I´m not going into this technicallity debate but just want to say that I´ve had a couple of Amanos die a while ago and they also became pink so it seems that it´s normal for them. So here I am once more...
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27
Cup_of_Lifenoodles Fish Guru Posts: 2755 Kudos: 1957 Votes: 30 Registered: 09-Sep-2004	In that case, I desist.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:27


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