Michael is the coordinator of the Southern California Betta Club (SCBC), President and Founder of Talisman Zoological Sciences, Inc., and owner of Betta Planet in San Diego (a store for the import and breeding of high quality bettas).

Last year he built a model of the betta pigmentation system based on developmental and molecular genetics. His paper was presented at the Pigment Cell Conference last year and was well received. A summary is below.

A Microscopic Survey of Betta Splendens Pigmentation

* Talisman Zoological Sciences, Inc., San Diego, CA
** Invitrogen Corporation, Carlsbad, CA

A literature documenting the many color varieties of Betta splendens exists dating to the 1930's. Selective breeding has produced a multitude of observable finnage and color strains, many of which are highly prized for show and breeding purposes. The current work seeks to compare the visible color of pigmented tissue observable by the naked eye with the morphology of pigment cells and iridescent structures found in the scale and fin tissue. Ornamental varieties of this fish rely on combinations of yellow, black and red pigment cells combined with specifically aligned light refracting crystal structures to produce an overall color effect.

In addition to comparison of adult tissues, images from the developing pigmentation system in growing fry will show the presence of two pigment systems shortly after hatching. The relatively even coverage of yellow pigmentation as compared to the much more dispersed, single stellate cell morphology of the early black pigment cells might suggest that the yellow pigment carries the main photoprotective burden for the internal tissues of the developing fighting fish fry.