The Structural Basis for Iridescent Colour Changes in Dermal and Corneal Iridophores In Fish
Open Access
- 1 January 1989
- journal article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Journal of Experimental Biology
- Vol. 141 (1), 313-325
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.141.1.313
Abstract
The reflectance from the iridophores in the skin of the neon tetra Paracheirodon innesi (Myers) and the iridophores in the cornea of the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas) changes in response to light. In both cases the reflectance comes from the constructive interference of alternating plates of material of high and low refractive index. In the neon tetra the high refractive index plates are mainly guanine, and the low refractive index plates are cytoplasm. In the goby cornea the plates are made of intercellular matrix and cytoplasm, but it is not known which has the higher refractive index. In neon tetra dermal iridophores, the response to light is a shift to longer wavelength reflection without an accompanying increase in the amplitude of reflectance. In goby cornea, light can induce an increase in the amplitude of reflectance without a shift in wavelength. It is suggested that the wavelength shift is produced by an inflow of material into the iridophore and that the change in amplitude, without a shift in wavelength, is produced by a transfer of material, such as water, between the high and low refractive index layers of the multilayer stack.This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Corneal iridescence in fishes: light‐induced colour changes in relation to structureJournal of Fish Biology, 1988
- Light-induced changes in corneal iridescence in fishVision Research, 1987
- Ultraviolet receptors, tetrachromatic colour vision and retinal mosaics in the brown trout (Salmo trutta): Age-dependent changesVision Research, 1987
- Visual pigment in fish iridocytesNature, 1984
- Diel colour changes in the neon tetraParacheirodon innesiEnvironmental Biology of Fishes, 1983
- Changes in spectral reflexions from the iridophores of the neon tetra.The Journal of Physiology, 1982
- FINE STRUCTURAL DEMONSTRATION OF ORDERED ARRAYS OF CYTOPLASMIC FILAMENTS IN VERTEBRATE IRIDOPHORESThe Journal of cell biology, 1974
- The transparency of the mammalian corneaThe Journal of Physiology, 1970
- A Theoretical Treatment of the Reflexion of Light by Multilayer StructuresJournal of Experimental Biology, 1968
- Color Changes in Fundulus with Special Reference to the Color Changes of the IridosomesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1933