When fish suddenly change color, little photoreceptors embedded deep within their skin keep watch to ensure the color is just right, according to new research.
For the first time, scientists have examined the structure of the system that not only allows animals to rapidly change color but also to do so with enough accuracy to survive. The research team, which includes FIU marine scientist Heather Bracken-Grissom and is led by Lori Schweikert of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, examined hogfish for the study published this week in Nature Communications. The pointy-snouted reef fish can change from white to reddish brown in milliseconds as it adjusts to changing conditions in its environment. It's accuracy in determining its color comes from photoreceptors within the fish's skin.
"If these fish don't get the colors right, they would be preyed upon," said Schweikert, who conducted some of this research while a distinguished post-doctoral researcher at FIU in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education and the Institute of Environment.
Hogfish have cells filled with pigments that can make the fish appear dark in color when the pigments are dispersed and light in color when the pigments are clustered together.
