Effect of contrasting background colour change in fish: Rasbora elanga

Abstract

Many lower vertebrates are able to adopt the colour of their skin to that of their background. This adaptation is possible because of the ability of these animals to shift pigment in certain special cells in their integument the chromatophores (Parker, 1948; Waring, 1963; Fujii, 1969, 2000; Bagnara and Hadley, 1973). The most common type of chromatophores are the black/brown melanophores, which contain the dark pigment melanin. When the background is lighter in nature, the pigment melanin is made to aggregate and it contributes little to the colour of the animal and the animals look pale but when the background is dark and melanin gets dispersed throughout the cytosol of the cell, it imparts its colour to the animals which look dark in order to blend with the background.