Blue eye bearded dragons Marek's/herpies

You know after first reading about someone some what being rude (sorry stephen thats how i felt at first) i was pissed but after this has carried on about the blue eyes so long i went back thru pictures of my blue eyed dragon and no there not true blue eyes they are more of a gray with blue specks more in one than the other i love that this subject has come up it has made me do more research on bearded dragons i might not have learned a whole lot more on the blue eyes but thanks to steven bringing this up i did learn that im propably not the only one that researched this more i wish i had the ability to breed my weird eye colored guy some more and prove it out but all i can do is hope his offspring will show it of not its ok with me cuz im not tryin to create another morph again thanks steven

Glad u are having fun. Looking forward to your work. I hope we can figure this eye stuff out.

This is realy an interesting topic!

Okay let me intervene a bit. I am by no means a specialised opthalmologist, but am well a veterinarian with keen knowledge of dragons. I don't have all the answers (not even many) and I believe that we actualy know quite little about bearded dragons compared to their popularity.

A few comments on BBD's statements/questions/answers:
(note that I will clearly state the species that I have info to as it is not ideal to compare species esp from different families but sometimes it is all we have)

"I would guess its enzyme related to the morph"
Most likely as most functions in the body is linked to some enzyme. This is actualy a brilliant answer if you dont know the answer... I was actualy asking the question in a much simpler way. I ask this because I have no idea! I have never ssen an translucents eye (no trans in SA). Can someone please post a good quality close up picture of a trans eye. This would help so much in this debate. I believe their pupil (yes they have one, see later) is either 'translucent' (wow...) or solid black.

"Bearded dragons don't have an Iris"
"I see pupil and I see one of the other two. Either iris or sclera."
They do have an iris. Most animals have. You are right. You only see two.
Here is a pic (COPYRIGHT) of a dissected dragon eye. Note the pupil in the middle. Around it is a small yellowish 'circle' This is what you see when looking at a live dragon. The rest is not visible as it is covered by the skin/eyelids. You will note that there is a huge portion that you dont see in a live dragon. They have massive eyes. Why? Sight is their main sense.

"There is no Iris. (This is where color should develop.)"
Colour does not 'develop' in the iris. When we look at the human eye, and in particular the blue eye; there is no blue pigment in the human iris. Weird! Just the same as there is no blue 'colour' in the skye or ocean. Its the result of particle/matter refraction and light reflection. In BBD's link to Wikipedia you can learn more about this. (BUT please remeber that anyone (even dumb people) can comment on. Go check. So the point is Wiki sites are not the best for 'scientific' research. Rather use Google Scholar or CAB or so). So why ARE there dragons with blue eyes? See later. Basically human blue eyes are determined by the 1.scatter/reflection/etc 2. The amount of melanin in the iris (shades of blue, lots of melanin would end up in grey/green/brown eyes)

Thus there is no blue pigment in HUMAN eyes (just like there are no blue pigments in the rest of the human body). Reptiles do have blue pigment though. Bearded dragons? I dont know. Doubt it!

"The eye does not dilate when exposed to light."
It won't. It will constrict. Aka become miotic. That is the pupil goes smaller when exposed to light. If your dragons eye doesn't, then it is brain dead... BUT their eyes are not that sensitive to light as human eyes. You will have difficulty in noticing it. It is a very small constriction. I think (my presumption only) that they are able tos shut the eye 'off' centrally when exposed to bright light.

" I hope we can figure this eye stuff out. "
We will...

Okay so some opinions/facts:

In DOGS (and I am sure in other species the same would occur) we see a blue eyes when there are abnormal 'deposits' (metabolic infiltrates) in the cornea. Commonly this would be calcium or cholesterol.

Perhaps these abnormal blue eyes (I am mentioning ABNORMAL here because I believe, as Steven does, that there are abnormal blue eyes. But I also believe there are 'true'/normal blue eyes) are as a result of these corneal pigments. My thought is that this could especialy be attributed to calcium. We tend to overfeed calcium in our dragons! Calcium is deposited in other organs when this happens. Why not the eye? Cholesterol as well. Mealworms are realy fatty! When I look at that pic of "Star" on your link Steven then I realy think this is the cause of that dragons abnormal blue eye. The cornea covers the 'whole eye' thus it would also cover the pupil. I think this is why we see an 'abnormal pupil'. I might be wrong. It would be better if I can look at the eye in person but oh well... In the pic of the "Misshapen pupil" dragon I think this due to a true deformity in the pupil as a result of iris damge 9likely to the muscles of the iris).

Steven perhaps with your data collection on these blue eyed dragons you should ask more questions about the diet.

Hope this helps a bit

Cheers

How do I edit a post? Can't seem to find the edit button.

"I would guess its enzyme related to the morph"
Most likely as most functions in the body is linked to some enzyme. This is actualy a brilliant answer if you dont know the answer... I was actualy asking the question in a much simpler way. I ask this because I have no idea! I have never ssen an translucents eye (no trans in SA). Can someone please post a good quality close up picture of a trans eye. This would help so much in this debate. I believe their IRIS (yes they have one, see later) is either 'translucent' (wow...) or solid black.

Also why has the photo upload page changed? How do I now upload a photo from my desktop?

Bearded dragons don't have an Iris"
"I see pupil and I see one of the other two. Either iris or sclera."
They do have an iris. Most animals have. You are right. You only see two.
Here is a pic (COPYRIGHT) of a dissected dragon eye. Note the pupil in the middle. Around it is a small yellowish 'circle' This is what you see when looking at a live dragon. The rest is not visible as it is covered by the skin/eyelids. You will note that there is a huge portion that you dont see in a live dragon. They have massive eyes. Why? Sight is their main sense.

I CAN ADD TO THIS THAT THE REST OF THE EYE IS THE SCLERA

Translucent eyes

Wow! That is cool. What is even cooler is the variation between them. Seems that there are indeed a pigmented iris in them. And that this iris is hypermelanistic! Not translucent. Thanks Kelli

Any pictures of abnormal trans eyes out there?

Any pictures of a dragon's eyes where it has a "red eye effect" guys?

I dont see the pictures of the eye being dissected. Why wouldn't the iris respond to light? Why is the iris vascular and white?

how do i upload a pic from desktop? only get an option to upload from url.

Can someone please explain how I upload a pic from my desktop then I can show you my pics?

Here is a link to a pic of a corn snake eye. Note the similarity between it and the bearded dragon right? Credos to the photographer.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs22/f/20...by_Bullter.jpg