Morphs tend to be the most confusing aspect of Bearded Dragons and the most common questions that come up on various social media posts and websites.  “What is my dragon?” is probably the most common question you see on various pages and groups.  First, we need to understand what a morph is, and what it is not.  I don’t have a biology degree and didn’t even take biology in High School, so bear with me as I try to explain the basics without making it too hard to understand.

 

Most Bearded Dragon morphs are a mutation of the natural occurring forms of the Bearded Dragon.  When we speak of the “natural occurring” Bearded Dragon, we are speaking about the wild type that would be encountered in the natural habitat.  A large number of the Bearded Dragons you see nowadays in the pet trade have some type of “difference” to them, whether it be a color, mutation, or physical difference (Like a scale morph).  Most of the common morphs are listed below.

 

Hypomelanistic

Hypomelanistic, or “Hypo” for short, is simply the lack of melanin.  Basically, it lightens a Bearded Dragon’s colors.  Most hypo dragons have brighter colors and less dark colors.  The simple way to spot Hypo dragons is to look at their nails.  Hypo dragons will have clear nails and normal dragons will have a black line going through the nail.  Hypo is a recessive trait.

 

Translucent

Translucent, or “Trans” for short, is when the scales and skin of the dragon appear clear.  Most translucent dragons have blue bellies as babies and most have black eyes.  In babies, translucent is very obvious, but as adults it’s not always obvious.  Translucent is a recessive trait.

 

Leatherback

Leatherback is a physical morph that reduces the spikes on the back of a Bearded Dragon.  Leatherbacks have a smooth back that has reduced scales.  The amount of reduction in scales can vary between animals.  This reduction in scales makes them feel and appear smooth, which usually brightens up a nicer colored animal. Most leatherbacks in the hobby are a co-dominant morph, which means when two leatherbacks are bred together you get the “super” form of the trait, which is called a “Silkback” and is a Bearded Dragon that basically has no scales at all.  Silkbacks are a controversial morph that I don’t breed for because they require special care to keep them healthy.  I’m not a fan of Silkbacks, so I choose not to ever breed two leatherbacks together.  Because Leatherback is a co-dominant morph, you can breed a leatherback to a normal dragon and get leatherback babies in the first clutch because it only takes on parent to pass this gene down to babies. 

 

Dunner

Dunner is a scale and pattern morph.  This is likely my favorite morph, as it changes the shape of the scales AND the pattern of the dragon.  With a normal dragon, the scales are similar to a fish and flow uniformly towards the tail.  When the Dunner gene is introduced, it randomly changes the scales pattern and shapes.  Some scales change from a “fish scale” to more of a “Hershey kiss” scale.  Imagine a miniature Hershey kiss sitting on top of the dragon’s skin, and that somewhat describes the way the new scales look and feel.  The scales are also disorganized, facing different directions.  This is mostly apparent on the underside of a Dunner dragon as the scales are easy to see facing the different direction.  Looking at the base of the tail is also a giveaway as the scales are all so different.  If that isn’t a giveaway, the patterning will be.  Dunners tend to have a distinctive pattern on the lower back around the back legs and start of the tail.  It’s hard to explain, but once you see it side by side you start seeing it.  Dunner is a dominant gene similar to Leatherback with how it is passed down to babies, but it doesn’t have a super form when two are bred together.

 

Zero

Zero is one of the most popular morphs out there today.  Zero is a dragon that lacks colors and patterns.  Most zeros are a light grey or silver, while a hypo zero will be paper white in color.  Zero is a recessive trait.

 

Witblits

Witblits, like a zero lacks patterning, however it can retain colors.  Colored Witblits are some of the most striking dragons you can find.  Witblits is also a recessive trait.

 

Wero

Wero is simply the combination of a Witblits and a Zero visually expressed in one animal.  It’s two genes combined to make one “morph” and is actually just a name for a dragon that shows both traits.

 

Paradox

Paradox is the least known morph in the industry.  Paradox is the random assortment of colors that aren’t normal.  A paradox could be a random assortment of unique colors or have random patches of color splashed throughout its body.  Paradox isn’t a recessive or dominant trait so very little is known on how to replicate it.  Paradox is so random and rare, that they command very high prices for them if you can even find one available in the first place.  Ruby and Destiny are two of my nicest paradox dragons.

 

Genetic stripe

Genetic stripe animals show very distinctive stripes down their back that extend to the beginning of the tail.  While some dragons will show more “stripes” than others, not all dragons with stripes down their back will be genetic stripes.  Some random striping in dragons is common, but when that stripe can be replicated and reproduced into the babies of an animal is when it becomes a genetic stripe. 

 

 

German Giant

While technically this isn’t a “Morph”, it needs to be talked about.  “German Giant” bearded dragons were a line of larger bearded dragons from way back when dragon morphs weren’t even a real thing.  This line was simply dragons imported from Germany.  While a few select breeders still work with ancestors to this line, the general consensus is that there are no more true “German Giant” bearded dragons in the hobby.  People that claim to have these types of dragons are simply repeating a name that they have heard that is now associated with bigger common bearded dragons.  If you see “German Giant” in the name of a dragon you are considering purchasing, I would assume anything else you are told about that dragon is likely false info as well. 

 

Colors

While colors aren’t technically morphs, they are descriptors of dragons.  “Red” isn’t a morph, but it is a color variation.  A “Red Hypo-Trans Leatherback” only possesses 3 morphs (Hypomelanistic, translucent, and leatherback), but red is the description.  Lots of other names get tossed around to describe color variations, like “Citrus”, “Orange”, “Flame”, ”fancy”, “Coral”, etc.  Lots of these terms are simply marketing ploys to make a dragon seem more valuable.