Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish
Colour change of the skin in lower vertebrates such as fish has been a subject of great scientific and public interest. However, colour change also takes place in eyes of fish and while an increasing amount of data indicates its importance in behaviour, very little is known about its regulation. Her...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Company of Biologists
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Biology Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/2/206 |
| _version_ | 1819101838756020224 |
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| author | Helen Nilsson Sköld Daniel Yngsell Muhmd Mubashishir Margareta Wallin |
| author_facet | Helen Nilsson Sköld Daniel Yngsell Muhmd Mubashishir Margareta Wallin |
| author_sort | Helen Nilsson Sköld |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Colour change of the skin in lower vertebrates such as fish has been a subject of great scientific and public interest. However, colour change also takes place in eyes of fish and while an increasing amount of data indicates its importance in behaviour, very little is known about its regulation. Here, we report that both eye and skin coloration change in response to white to black background adaptation in live sand goby Pomatoschistus minutes, a bentic marine fish. Through in vitro experiments, we show that noradrenaline and melanocyte concentrating hormone (MCH) treatments cause aggregation of pigment organelles in the eye chromatophores. Daylight had no aggregating effect. Combining forskolin to elevate intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) with MCH resulted in complete pigment dispersal and darkening of the eyes, whereas combining prolactin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) or melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) with MCH resulted in more yellow and red eyes. ACTH and MSH also induced dispersal in the melanophores, resulting in overall darker eyes. By comparing analysis of eyes, skin and peritoneum, we conclude that the regulation pattern is similar between these different tissues in this species which is relevant for the cryptic life strategy of this species. With the exception of ACTH which resulted in most prominent melanophore pigment dispersal in the eyes, all other treatments provided similar results between tissue types. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has directly analysed hormonal regulation of physiological colour change in eyes of fish. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T01:25:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c38bee22c8074131a4c4ba016e441d77 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-6390 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T01:25:02Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | The Company of Biologists |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biology Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-c38bee22c8074131a4c4ba016e441d772022-12-21T18:43:38ZengThe Company of BiologistsBiology Open2046-63902015-01-014220621110.1242/bio.2014999320149993Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fishHelen Nilsson Sköld0Daniel Yngsell1Muhmd Mubashishir2Margareta Wallin3 Sven Loven Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, SE-450 34 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden Department of Biomedicine, Kristianstad University, SE-291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden Sven Loven Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, SE-450 34 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden Colour change of the skin in lower vertebrates such as fish has been a subject of great scientific and public interest. However, colour change also takes place in eyes of fish and while an increasing amount of data indicates its importance in behaviour, very little is known about its regulation. Here, we report that both eye and skin coloration change in response to white to black background adaptation in live sand goby Pomatoschistus minutes, a bentic marine fish. Through in vitro experiments, we show that noradrenaline and melanocyte concentrating hormone (MCH) treatments cause aggregation of pigment organelles in the eye chromatophores. Daylight had no aggregating effect. Combining forskolin to elevate intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) with MCH resulted in complete pigment dispersal and darkening of the eyes, whereas combining prolactin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) or melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) with MCH resulted in more yellow and red eyes. ACTH and MSH also induced dispersal in the melanophores, resulting in overall darker eyes. By comparing analysis of eyes, skin and peritoneum, we conclude that the regulation pattern is similar between these different tissues in this species which is relevant for the cryptic life strategy of this species. With the exception of ACTH which resulted in most prominent melanophore pigment dispersal in the eyes, all other treatments provided similar results between tissue types. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has directly analysed hormonal regulation of physiological colour change in eyes of fish.http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/2/206ErythrophoresIrisPhysiological colour changePigmentMelanophoresCamouflage |
| spellingShingle | Helen Nilsson Sköld Daniel Yngsell Muhmd Mubashishir Margareta Wallin Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish Biology Open Erythrophores Iris Physiological colour change Pigment Melanophores Camouflage |
| title | Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| title_full | Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| title_fullStr | Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| title_short | Hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| title_sort | hormonal regulation of colour change in eyes of a cryptic fish |
| topic | Erythrophores Iris Physiological colour change Pigment Melanophores Camouflage |
| url | http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/2/206 |
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