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Color Change in Cephalopods

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Pigments, Pigment Cells and Pigment Patterns

Abstract

Cephalopods, such as octopuses, cuttlefish, and squid, are members of the phylum Mollusca, are the most common marine organisms utilized as fisheries resource by humans, and play a key role in marine food webs. Besides these characteristics, cephalopods have gained attention in biological science owing to their physiological and anatomical features, such as camera-type eye and a large brain, by which they can perform advanced learning and exhibit some intelligent behaviors such as tool use. All these examples indicate cephalopods as intelligent invertebrates or primates of the ocean. Color change is another remarkable feature of cephalopods; it is achieved through specific chromatic and reflecting cells and controlled neural system connected with the brain, thus accomplishing the fastest and the most varied chromatic changes among the animal kingdom. This chapter reviews color change in cephalopods, which includes a unique chromophore system contributing to rapid color change, related physiological mechanism, and unique chromatic behavior, such as body patterning. Ecological significance of color change in cephalopods has also been explained with some challenging hypothesis for possible color perception.

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Acknowledgements

I give thanks to my laboratory members who offered photographs. Daisuke Ueno (Kagoshima University) and Shuichi Shigeno (Osaka University) are acknowledged for their permission to use photographs and unpublished data. Sumire Kawashima (University of the Ryukyus) is given thanks for drawing Figs. 14.5, 14.6, and 14.12.

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  1. Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukus, Okinawa, Japan

    Yuzuru Ikeda

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  1. Yuzuru Ikeda
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Correspondence to Yuzuru Ikeda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Hisashi Hashimoto

  2. Preeminent Medical Photonics Education & Research Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

    Makoto Goda

  3. Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Ryo Futahashi

  4. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Robert Kelsh

  5. Department of Biology, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan

    Toyoko Akiyama

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Ikeda, Y. (2021). Color Change in Cephalopods. In: Hashimoto, H., Goda, M., Futahashi, R., Kelsh, R., Akiyama, T. (eds) Pigments, Pigment Cells and Pigment Patterns. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1490-3_14

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