Summary
The chromatophore unit concept is applicable to the variety of chromatophore associations in the coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch. Individual pigment cells of three general types—melanophores, xanthophores, and iridophores—vary structurally according to skin location, age, and physiological state. In growing fish, melanophores have a bimodal size distribution; in adults, they have a normal size distribution. Both melanophores and xanthophores are dendritic cells which respond to potassium and sodium ions by respectively aggregating and dispersing pigment granules. The third cell, the iridophore, is characterized by reflecting platelets of birefringent crystals of guanine of hypoxanthine and has at least two distinct shapes. In the upper dermis of the dark-colored skin, globular iridophores are encompassed by the dendritic arms of subjacent melanophores. In relation to this melanophoreiridopbore unit, the xanthophores appear to be randomly distributed and to afford an effective filter by virtue of their quantity and shape as well as their pigment granules. In deeper locations in the dermis, particularly below the stratum compactum in the shiny ventral skin, layers of dendritic iridophores are only partially shielded by the few melanophores and thus represent the nadir of chromatophore unit organization in the salmon.
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Publication No. 713 from the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. Supported by postdoctoral training fellowship 5-T01-AM05512-08 from the National Institutes of Health.
The author wishes to thank Messrs. W. Parente and R. Wahl of National Marine Fisheries Service, Portland, Oregon, for their kind assistance in obtaining the fish and to Mr. N. Roman for excellent technical help with the paraffin sections.
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Hawkes, J.W. The structure of fish skin. Cell Tissue Res. 149, 159–172 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222271
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222271