so im trying to learn more about the lyly gene/trait and am having a LOT of trouble finding resources that talk about what exactly it is and how it's inherited! can you shed light on this at a lil bit?
Okay so, you're having a hard time because it's ...very subtle on its own! And does weird things with other genes!
I believe it's incomplete dominant, there's talk of a super form. A lyly can make more lylys in the first breeding to a normal.
At its simplest, a lyly can clean up the reds and intensify the blacks. It can also increase the dark blacks and create a chain linking side pattern. The black can also overtake the neck and create a very broken and pixelated appearance. This is typically how I judge hatchlings on if they are lyly or not.
I'm going to put a lot of examples under the cut!
Lyly (sides are pixelated and broken, high black):
Normal (sides are smooth):
Chain linking on the sides example (black dots connected by a stripe outline in the sides. ALSO this baby is fine, he looks flat in the side view because he was doing a flat defensive display to make himself look wider lol):
Lyly combines with other genes... oddly. When mixed with matrix and GE, it makes the pattern broken up and busy!
Single gene goldeneye:
Here is a lyly goldeneye, lots more pattern, broken up, busy, red:
In matrix, the single gene matrix has a normal pattern with a pixelated look on the sides (you can see the dots/pixels):
Add lyly to this, and it really distorts the pattern (Photo from April Homich, of her beautiful lyly matrix!)
I also recently had lyly do something really weird here, I guess a couple years ago now. It's my girl Mako! I have no idea what the lyly was reacting to in this instance, as the lyly stripe male was paired to a stripe and this isn't a lyly stripe... But something is up here with the lyly.
In conclusion, on its own lyly is a subtle color and slight pattern enhancer. Mixed with other mutations it can distort and amplify patterns! (Also fwiw there are no associated negative effects to this gene. They are healthy.)
