Are albino leopard geckos really albino?

[lizardminion]

From my general understanding of biology, albinism is the lack of the dark pigment melanin. Vertebrates who are albino tend to be white, yellow, or possibly a different color, but in general, lack dark colors, with the exception of tyrosinase positive albinos. Now it appears to me that there lacks some clarification on the explanation of the dark spots that still inhabit an albino leopard gecko's skin, be it bell or tremper albino leopard geckos. Are these all paradoxes, or even true albinos at all? Are they simply considered T+ albinos, OR, is there another pigment that is contained in a leopard gecko's skin that results in these caramel brown or (sometimes) black blotches found on typical albinos? What is the science behind it? I must also note that the eyes if an albino leopard gecko differ from other albino vertebrates as they are not always ruby or blood red, with the exception of one albino strain.

 

[MACHI_vallism]

Could be that they are really leucistic instead of albino

 

[Hilde]

There was a lot of discussion about this when albino leopards first popped up. The last I heard, and apparently still the accepted explanation, is that they're all T+ albino - they can't synthesize melanin, but can synthesize tyrosinase. The tyrosinase causes the lavender-brown colour.