Tabby cat in the spine. The Spotted tabby is a modifier that breaks up the Mackerel tabby pattern so that the stripes appear as spots. Similarly, the stripes of the Classic tabby pattern may be broken into larger spots. Both large spot and small spot patterns can be seen in the Australian Mist, Bengal, Serengeti, Egyptian Mau, Arabian Mau, Maine Coon, and Ocicat breeds. The tabby patterns are due to three distinct gene loci and one modifier: The agouti gene, "A/a", controls whether or not the tabby pattern is expressed. The dominant "A" expresses the underlying tabby pattern, while the recessive non-agouti
Bengal cat rosetted spots occur only on the back and sides, with stripes elsewhere. The breed typically also features "mascara" (horizontal striping alongside the eyes), and foreleg striping. The eyes of a Bengal cat are relatively large and are usually bright blue or green. The Bengal cat is usually either classed as brown-spotted or snow-spotted (although there are more colors, brown and snow are the only colors of Bengal that the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (UK) recognize). Within brown Bengals, there are either marble or spotted markings. Included in the spotted variation is rosetted, which consists of a spot with