Chromatophores are cells found in cold-blooded animals, some bacteria, and cephalopods that can hold or produce pigment or reflect light to create a desired hue. They can change an animal’s color and serve various functions, including protection, signaling, and energy production. Chromatophores can be divided into biochromes and schemochromes, and can also be classified by the colors they produce. Animals like octopuses use chromatophores for camouflage and to pursue prey. Photosynthetic bacteria also use chromatophores for energy production.
Chromatophores are specialized cells that can hold or produce pigment or reflect light in a specific way to create a certain desired hue. They are found in cold-blooded animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods, along with some bacteria. Chromatophores perform a number of functions; In addition to coloring the skin and eyes of these animals, the cells can also help protect animals from predators or radiation, and serve to signal other creatures. Scientists also use chromatophores to study various aspects of animal life; cells have been identified and studied since the early 1800s.
Some biologists divide chromatophores into two rough categories: biochromes and schemochromes. Biochromes actually contain and produce pigments, while schemochromes can change the way light reflects off an animal’s skin, thereby changing its color. Biologists can also classify a chromatophore by the colors it produces; cyanophores, for example, produce colors in the blue range. Iridescent animal coloration is produced by iridophores.
In addition to simply creating a flat color, many chromatophores can also be used to help an animal change color. This trait is often observed in animals such as octopuses, lizards and some fish. Cells can achieve a color change by expanding or contracting each individual chromatophore to cover different areas of the animal’s skin, in response to stimuli such as light. In addition to making excellent camouflage, these color-changing cells can also help an animal regulate its body temperature, or they can signal information to other animals of the same species.
People who have observed the rapid color change of animals like octopuses have probably noticed that the color change spreads like a blush, rather than happening all at once. This appears to be caused by a sequential order of firing of neurons in the brain as they respond to a changing environment. Creatures such as octopuses with a highly refined chromatophore control system can mimic the color and texture of their environment very well; this camouflage technique is used to hide from predators and also to pursue unsuspecting prey.
Photosynthetic bacteria also use chromatophores to help them produce energy. Pigments in bacteria can take the form of bacteriochlorophyll and are capable of photosynthesis. Different bacteria can use and arrange their chromatophores in different ways, depending on how they evolved and where they live. Depending on the bacteria, the colors a chromatophore takes on can range from deep brown to bright green.
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