Differential chromatic activity of melanophores in integumentary patterns of winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus Walbaum)

Abstract

Winter flounder chromatophores include three major melanophore systems with differences in effector distribution and chromatic behavior. Response characteristics suggest that each of these pattern components represents a different neuroeffector system and that there may he prolonged hormonal control. One pattern component has the capacity for rapid melanosome dispersion and a second has the capacity for rapid melanosome aggregation on different backgrounds. Chromatic behavior of the third component is not necessarily background related. Although epidermal and dermal melanophore responses both exhibit rapid and slow phases, greater degrees of melanosome aggregation occur in epidermal melanophores and a higher stimulation threshold for their melanosome dispersion is indicated.