One in a Million

Here is an uncropped version of this image.

This is on the cover of /u/NoBiggDeall's genetic textbook - http://www.directtextbook.com/large/1429295163.jpg

/u/exxocet (who seems to be like unidan, but not so jackdawish), provided the following information:

I have been lucky enough to have seen a few of these and it is always quite interesting to see, this one is similarly interesting.

Not just because it is white, but look out the pattern on the shell, it is slightly asymmetric on each side- this seems quite common in albino/leucistic turtles. Compare the patterns on this leucistic adult with the symmetry of this drawing.

Scute variation is interesting, about 15% of hatchlings that escape the nest have this variation, but about 50% of the ones that don't manage to escape have weird scutes.

Okay so it's white AND weird scutes! Doomed!

Oddly the albinos seem to have an advantage at the beginning of their lives, I don't know if it is that obvious in this picture but they are often LARGER than regular colored hatchlings. Bigger hatchlings can run faster, swim faster and often avoid getting eaten by things with things with slightly smaller mouths, reducing the number of predators that can swallow them.

They are like super turtles, running and dodging being eaten.

Unfortunately it seems that any advantage of being bigger during hatching and reaching the sea is overshadowed by the disadvantages during the rest of their journey as you see quite a few albino/leucistic hatchlings, but very few albino/leucistic adults.

And yes, I think that pink thing is probably its liddle brain. Good luck little fella!

Edit: Fucking english maaaan, one day I will get it right.

/r/pics Thread Link - i.imgur.com