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Description
A few days ago I heard someone refer to themselves as a "nightshifter", meaning they did the night shift at their job.
I, of course, thought something totally different. Muse complied, and between the two of us we came up with this.

This horse is as-yet unnamed, but she's totally mine. She has been mutated by something I call the Nightshift gene, which is what causes her coloration.

If you are interested in the science of it, keep reading, otherwise just skip to the end for the important bits ^^

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Nightshift is a gene that "mutates" animals into looking like what is described below. This can affect any animal, and displays the same in any species.

By day Nightshifts look like plain examples of their species, displaying a single color only, with no markings. They are often brown, grey, or black.

As the light fades their other features become apparent, spots beginning to glow in one or two colors all over their bodies. Scientists are baffled as to what causes these bioluminescent (often shortened to biolum) markings to become apparent. The Nightshift's eyes will also change, with their pupils dissapearing so only the colored part is left.

The only way to tell a Nightshift from a regular animal by day is by the eyes, which are often luminescent blue, green, yellow or red, although in some cases the eyes are simply black and therefore indistinguishable.

The biolum is usually a flourescent shade of blue, green, yellow or in rare cases, red. It shows up anywhere a normal example of the species might display markings, ie in horses the Nightshift gene can display as an Appaloosa Nightshift, Zebra Nightshift, Paint Nightshift, etc.

In the case of horses, dogs or other species with "white markings", Nightshifts can also present with biolum in the place of those markings, such as facial markings (blaze, strip) and socks. Biolum is also heavily present anywhere the species has "hair", as in a horse's mane and tail, often streaking them with the color.

The Nightshift gene is passed by breeding, not any sort of infection. For breeding examples I am using a horse, but any animal can be substituted.

When breeding Nightshift x Nightshift the foal will usually carry two biolum colors, one from each of its parents. (This can be masked if both parents have, say, green biolums, in which case the foal could seem to just present with one green, when in fact it has green from each.)

When crossbreeding the Nighshift genes overpower all others. The foal will present with solid coat colors and biolums by night, the only difference is the biolum patterns will reflect the patterns of the other parent. For example, some Nightshift horses are bred with zebra hybrids, and the foal presents with biolums in a zebra marking pattern. This same method has been used to introduce many marking patterns into the Nightshift breed, including spots, patches, stripes and others.

Any animal can have the Nightshift gene. Birds, horses, dogs, cats, dolphins, anything. Even fantastical creatures! Just remember that the gene will overpower all other marking genes, save for that the pattern the biolums take will echo the masked marking pattern.

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This is not an open-to-create mutation, please respect my wishes and don't create one.

I am offering Nightshift adoptables!

For 5-10 points depending on your chosen species I will design you a creature of your choice! I may even design some as freebies or draw-to-adopt, they're super fun ^^ Let me know what speces you would like to see.

Lines are by

Description
A few days ago I heard someone refer to themselves as a "nightshifter", meaning they did the night shift at their job.
I, of course, thought something totally different. Muse complied, and between the two of us we came up with this.

This horse is as-yet unnamed, but she's totally mine. She has been mutated by something I call the Nightshift gene, which is what causes her coloration.

If you are interested in the science of it, keep reading, otherwise just skip to the end for the important bits ^^

------

Nightshift is a gene that "mutates" animals into looking like what is described below. This can affect any animal, and displays the same in any species.

By day Nightshifts look like plain examples of their species, displaying a single color only, with no markings. They are often brown, grey, or black.

As the light fades their other features become apparent, spots beginning to glow in one or two colors all over their bodies. Scientists are baffled as to what causes these bioluminescent (often shortened to biolum) markings to become apparent. The Nightshift's eyes will also change, with their pupils dissapearing so only the colored part is left.

The only way to tell a Nightshift from a regular animal by day is by the eyes, which are often luminescent blue, green, yellow or red, although in some cases the eyes are simply black and therefore indistinguishable.

The biolum is usually a flourescent shade of blue, green, yellow or in rare cases, red. It shows up anywhere a normal example of the species might display markings, ie in horses the Nightshift gene can display as an Appaloosa Nightshift, Zebra Nightshift, Paint Nightshift, etc.

In the case of horses, dogs or other species with "white markings", Nightshifts can also present with biolum in the place of those markings, such as facial markings (blaze, strip) and socks. Biolum is also heavily present anywhere the species has "hair", as in a horse's mane and tail, often streaking them with the color.

The Nightshift gene is passed by breeding, not any sort of infection. For breeding examples I am using a horse, but any animal can be substituted.

When breeding Nightshift x Nightshift the foal will usually carry two biolum colors, one from each of its parents. (This can be masked if both parents have, say, green biolums, in which case the foal could seem to just present with one green, when in fact it has green from each.)

When crossbreeding the Nighshift genes overpower all others. The foal will present with solid coat colors and biolums by night, the only difference is the biolum patterns will reflect the patterns of the other parent. For example, some Nightshift horses are bred with zebra hybrids, and the foal presents with biolums in a zebra marking pattern. This same method has been used to introduce many marking patterns into the Nightshift breed, including spots, patches, stripes and others.

Any animal can have the Nightshift gene. Birds, horses, dogs, cats, dolphins, anything. Even fantastical creatures! Just remember that the gene will overpower all other marking genes, save for that the pattern the biolums take will echo the masked marking pattern.

-----

This is not an open-to-create mutation, please respect my wishes and don't create one.

I am offering Nightshift adoptables!

For 5-10 points depending on your chosen species I will design you a creature of your choice! I may even design some as freebies or draw-to-adopt, they're super fun ^^ Let me know what speces you would like to see.

Lines are by