Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Volga bam here. Some of us are lucky
Speaker 1: and showed up on this planet with a certain amount
Speaker 1: of fashion Genessa Qua, but one particular reef mantarey living
Speaker 1: off the coast of Queensland, Australia, has enough personal flare
Speaker 1: for all of us. The Mantarey's human given name is
Speaker 1: Inspector Clusseau, after the bumbling French detective in the Pink
Speaker 1: Panther movie franchise. Because he's cruising around the reefs of
Speaker 1: eastern Australia flashing shocking pink flippers at marine life and
Speaker 1: humans alike, he might be the only neon pink mantarey
Speaker 1: in the world. The reef mantarey is one of the
Speaker 1: largest species of ray in the world, but although their beefy,
Speaker 1: their color palette is typically pretty subdued, normally white with
Speaker 1: a few black splotches. Inspector Clusseau has been spotted about
Speaker 1: ten times since he was first discovered. In In February,
Speaker 1: a photographer named Christian Lane snapped some photos of a
Speaker 1: group of male man to raise following a female's pheromone trail.
Speaker 1: One ray in particular, made him think he was doing
Speaker 1: something wrong with his camera the color didn't look right.
Speaker 1: After consulting some locals, he discovered that the animal had
Speaker 1: seen was somewhat of a local celebrity. Why Inspector Clusau
Speaker 1: is pink is a question that has puzzled scientists. In
Speaker 1: sixteen one, researcher Amelia Armstrong took a skin biopsy to
Speaker 1: see if it might be a result of his diet
Speaker 1: or maybe an infection. Since those hypotheses have been ruled out,
Speaker 1: the current one is that Inspector Cluso's rosy coloring is
Speaker 1: the product of a rare genetic mutation. Some gene mutations
Speaker 1: can cause commonly known conditions, such as albinism, which is
Speaker 1: the result of a lack of color pigments called melanin
Speaker 1: in the skin, hair, or eyes of an animal, or melanism,
Speaker 1: which is the result of a super production of melanin.
Speaker 1: But Cluzo likely has a genetic mutation known as ari thrism,
Speaker 1: which causes the skin to take on a red or
Speaker 1: pink hue. This condition is not unheard of in fish,
Speaker 1: but Clouseau is the first documented case of a manta
Speaker 1: ray with air a thrism. Of course, air a thrism
Speaker 1: isn't the only way animals can achieve a pinkish hue.
Speaker 1: Some get it from their diet, which is why researchers
Speaker 1: checked that out first. Animals from flamingos to cardinals to
Speaker 1: salmon get their orange pink red colors from foods that
Speaker 1: are high in compounds called carotenoids, which yes, we're named
Speaker 1: for carrots, but lots of plants from apples to algae
Speaker 1: produce these compounds, and animals can pick up those pigments
Speaker 1: and wind up storing them in their skin, feathers, or flesh.
Speaker 1: Male cardinals are pale unless they eat red dogwood berries,
Speaker 1: and flamingos and salmon get their colors from eating various
Speaker 1: aquatic animals that themselves eat algae, and even humans can
Speaker 1: pick up an orange yellow skin tint from eating high
Speaker 1: quantities of orange vegetables, white carrots, or pumpkin. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Jesseline Shields and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more in this lots of other colorful topics, visit
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of
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