Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Reflectin proteins are likely distributed in the outer layer of cells called "sheath cells" that surround an organism's pigment cells also known as chromatocyte. [2] Specific sequences of reflectin ables cephalopods to communicate and camouflage by adjusting color and reflectivity.
Coleoid cephalopods (including octopuses, squids and cuttlefish) have complex multicellular organs that they use to change colour rapidly, producing a wide variety of bright colours and patterns. Each chromatophore unit is composed of a single chromatophore cell and numerous muscle, nerve, glial , and sheath cells. [ 43 ]
Physiological change, the kind observed in cephalopod lineages, is typically the result of the movement of pigment within the chromatophore, changing where different pigments are localized within the cell. This physiological change typically occurs on much shorter timescales compared to morphological change. Cephalopods have a rare form of ...
Diagram of a cephalopod's photophore, in vertical section. A photophore is a glandular organ that appears as luminous spots on marine animals, including fish and cephalopods. The organ can be simple, or as complex as the human eye, equipped with lenses, shutters, color filters, and reflectors; unlike an eye, however, it is optimized to produce ...
The cephalopods were once thought to have evolved from a monoplacophoran-like ancestor [8] with a curved, tapering shell, [9] and to be closely related to the gastropods (snails). [10] The similarity of the early shelled cephalopod Plectronoceras to some gastropods was used to support this view.
Volborthella, some fossils of which predate , was long thought to be a cephalopod, but discoveries of more detailed fossils showed its shell was not secreted, but built from grains of the mineral silicon dioxide (silica), and it was not divided into a series of compartments by septa as those of fossil shelled cephalopods and the living Nautilus are.
Fish and frog melanophores are cells that can change colour by dispersing or aggregating pigment-containing melanosomes. A melanosome is an organelle found in animal cells and is the site for synthesis, storage and transport of melanin , the most common light-absorbing pigment found in the animal kingdom .
Cephalopod ink is a dark-coloured or luminous ink released into water by most species of cephalopod, usually as an escape mechanism. All cephalopods, with the exception of the Nautilidae and the Cirrina (deep-sea octopuses), [ 1 ] are able to release ink to confuse predators .