White common frog

[green_onions]

Came across this full-grown, white , non-albino adult in our tiny pond in Manchester, alongside several other 'normal' coloured frogs.

Is this quite common or uncommon?

[Jenny W]

I have seen Toads with similar leucistic colouring to this.

[aeshna5]

I don't think they are that common, though this species is very variable in colour. I've never seen one that pale. Being so pale they are more likely to stand out to predators!

[green_onions]

"Being so pale they are more likely to stand out to predators!"

That's what I thought...and wondered how it had managed to get to full-grown adulthood, especially with the many cats that hang around our garden. Though, based on observation, it is clearly far more 'nervous' than the other frogs in the pond. Perhaps it knows it needs to be careful :-)

[Jenny W]

Just remembered that after seeing the leucistic toad we read somewhere that this colour change can be caused by the surroundings. The toads were found at a coastal nature reserve on pale sand.

[Dogghound]

This one is a true albino. Quite rare.

[green_onions]

Surely, if it's an albino, it ought to have pink eyes....this one definitely has black eyes.

[Dogghound]

Not pink? in the top photo the eye looks pinkish. If thats the case then its not an albino, but its genes are very close.

[Jenny W]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

This one is a true albino. Quite rare.

How can you tell from the photo - the eyes definetely don't look pink to me. My first thought was that it's just very leucistic.

[Dogghound]

I was going by the white colour with pale orange markings, the eyes in an albino are pink due to there being no pigmentation in it. Sometimes the iris produces small amounts of melanin making them darker. Photo's of eyes can often look darker. However since the poster says they where not pink then im wrong...