First albino Asian water snake recorded in Assam

GUWAHATI

A team from the Assam State Zoo and Botanical Garden has recorded the first case of albinism in the checkered keelback (Fowlea piscator), also called the Asian water snake, in Assam.

Wildlife officials said a juvenile albino checkered keelback, measuring 290 mm in length, was found near the zoo in Guwahati.

The identity of the snake was confirmed through detailed inspection of its appearance and scalation, which matched published descriptions for the Fowlea piscator.

The researchers released the snake into a protected forest habitat within three days of its use as a specimen for study.

A non-venomous snake, the checkered keelback is a common species in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. However, the albino checkered keelback is not so common.

According to a study published in Reptiles & Amphibians, a peer-reviewed international open-access journal, albinism is an extremely rare genetic trait in wild snakes, characterised by the absence of melanin pigment, resulting in pale colouration and, often, red eyes.

The authors of the study are Rupankar Bhattacharjee, Ashwini Kumar, Debabrata Phukon, and Pranjal Mahananda of the Assam State Zoo, and Jayaditya Purkayastha of the Guwahati-based Help Earth, a biodiversity conservation group specialising in reptiles.

The researchers said hypopigmentation, resulting in albinism or leucism (partial loss of pigmentation), had earlier been reported in snakes from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, and West Bengal in India and Dhanusha district in Nepal.

“The new record underscores Assam’s growing reputation as a centre for wildlife conservation and research. The report can contribute valuable information to ongoing studies of rare genetic traits in Indian wildlife,” a zoo official said on Friday (November 14, 2025).