Tabby Pattern: Mackerel or Broken Mackerel

[MindyStClairesMom]

It really hardly matters -- and she's really got a spot of torbie coloring (tortie under her tabby stripes which you can see on her back and, if you look closely, on her front feet), but I was feeling obsessive tonight & wondered if you would say mackerel or broken mackerel stripes on this one? I've always been intrigued by the cream-colored tip on her tail . . . seems evolutionarily dangerous as it would make you stand out to the owls in the dark, I would think.

Here's the one I would call mackerel tabby . . . with the more defined pattern . . .

Thanks in advance!

 

[GoldyCat]

It looks like mackerel tabby to me. Broken mackerel would look more like spots.

 

[MindyStClairesMom]

Thanks! Just when I start to think she's got spots . . . I see a cat with actual spots & realize that's not her. Thank you for indulging me!

 

[Meowmee]

It really hardly matters -- and she's really got a spot of torbie coloring (tortie under her tabby stripes which you can see on her back and, if you look closely, on her front feet), but I was feeling obsessive tonight & wondered if you would say mackerel or broken mackerel stripes on this one? I've always been intrigued by the cream-colored tip on her tail . . . seems evolutionarily dangerous as it would make you stand out to the owls in the dark, I would think.
View attachment 401302
Here's the one I would call mackerel tabby . . . with the more defined pattern . . .
View attachment 401303
Thanks in advance!

She is a beauty To me she is mackerel however not a true mackerel because as you say she is tortie too, so a torbie mackerl with the line on her back broken up by tortie patches. She looks a bit ticked too in areas but I think that is the tortie also. My Angie was a tortie and she had a little white tip on her tail as well.

 

[MindyStClairesMom]

She is a beauty To me she is mackerel however not a true mackerel because as you say she is tortie too, so a torbie mackerl with the line on her back broken up by tortie patches. She looks a bit ticked too in areas but I think that is the tortie also. My Angie was a tortie and she had a little white tip on her tail as well.

Thank you for admiring her with me -- and yes, I think she is quite a cat of another stripe! Thanks for sharing about the white-tip-tail sisterhood!