Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?

Flounder change colour and pattern for camouflage. We used a spectrometer to measure reflectance spectra and a digital camera to capture body patterns of two flounder species camouflaged on four natural backgrounds of different spatial scale (sand, small gravel, large gravel and rocks). We quantifie...

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Main Authors: Barbosa, Alexandra, Maethger, Lydia M., Akkaynak Yellin, Derya, Siemann, Liese A.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Royal Society 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110056
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author Barbosa, Alexandra
Maethger, Lydia M.
Akkaynak Yellin, Derya
Siemann, Liese A.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Barbosa, Alexandra
Maethger, Lydia M.
Akkaynak Yellin, Derya
Siemann, Liese A.
author_sort Barbosa, Alexandra
collection MIT
description Flounder change colour and pattern for camouflage. We used a spectrometer to measure reflectance spectra and a digital camera to capture body patterns of two flounder species camouflaged on four natural backgrounds of different spatial scale (sand, small gravel, large gravel and rocks). We quantified the degree of spectral match between flounder and background relative to the situation of perfect camouflage in which flounder and background were assumed to have identical spectral distribution. Computations were carried out for three biologically relevant observers: monochromatic squid, dichromatic crab and trichromatic guitarfish. Our computations present a new approach to analysing datasets with multiple spectra that have large variance. Furthermore, to investigate the spatial match between flounder and background, images of flounder patterns were analysed using a custom program originally developed to study cuttlefish camouflage. Our results show that all flounder and background spectra fall within the same colour gamut and that, in terms of different observer visual systems, flounder matched most substrates in luminance and colour contrast. Flounder matched the spatial scales of all substrates except for rocks. We discuss findings in terms of flounder biology; furthermore, we discuss our methodology in light of hyperspectral technologies that combine high-resolution spectral and spatial imaging.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1100562022-09-27T16:43:00Z Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats? Barbosa, Alexandra Maethger, Lydia M. Akkaynak Yellin, Derya Siemann, Liese A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Akkaynak Yellin, Derya Siemann, Liese A. Flounder change colour and pattern for camouflage. We used a spectrometer to measure reflectance spectra and a digital camera to capture body patterns of two flounder species camouflaged on four natural backgrounds of different spatial scale (sand, small gravel, large gravel and rocks). We quantified the degree of spectral match between flounder and background relative to the situation of perfect camouflage in which flounder and background were assumed to have identical spectral distribution. Computations were carried out for three biologically relevant observers: monochromatic squid, dichromatic crab and trichromatic guitarfish. Our computations present a new approach to analysing datasets with multiple spectra that have large variance. Furthermore, to investigate the spatial match between flounder and background, images of flounder patterns were analysed using a custom program originally developed to study cuttlefish camouflage. Our results show that all flounder and background spectra fall within the same colour gamut and that, in terms of different observer visual systems, flounder matched most substrates in luminance and colour contrast. Flounder matched the spatial scales of all substrates except for rocks. We discuss findings in terms of flounder biology; furthermore, we discuss our methodology in light of hyperspectral technologies that combine high-resolution spectral and spatial imaging. United States. National Institutes of Health (NIH-NEI EY021473) 2017-06-20T15:27:06Z 2017-06-20T15:27:06Z 2017-02 2016-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2054-5703 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110056 Akkaynak, Derya; Siemann, Liese A.; Barbosa, Alexandra and Mäthger, Lydia M. “Changeable Camouflage: How Well Can Flounder Resemble the Colour and Spatial Scale of Substrates in Their Natural Habitats?” Royal Society Open Science 4, no. 3 (March 2017): 160824 © 2017 The Authors en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160824 Royal Society Open Science Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Royal Society The Royal Society
spellingShingle Barbosa, Alexandra
Maethger, Lydia M.
Akkaynak Yellin, Derya
Siemann, Liese A.
Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title_full Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title_fullStr Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title_full_unstemmed Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title_short Changeable camouflage: how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats?
title_sort changeable camouflage how well can flounder resemble the colour and spatial scale of substrates in their natural habitats
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110056
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