Publication Date:
2015-11-21
Description:
Despite appearing featureless to our eyes, the open ocean is a highly variable environment for polarization-sensitive viewers. Dynamic visual backgrounds coupled with predator encounters from all possible directions make this habitat one of the most challenging for camouflage. We tested open-ocean crypsis in nature by collecting more than 1500 videopolarimetry measurements from live fish from distinct habitats under a variety of viewing conditions. Open-ocean fish species exhibited camouflage that was superior to that of both nearshore fish and mirrorlike surfaces, with significantly higher crypsis at angles associated with predator detection and pursuit. Histological measurements revealed that specific arrangements of reflective guanine platelets in the fish's skin produce angle-dependent polarization modifications for polarocrypsis in the open ocean, suggesting a mechanism for natural selection to shape reflectance properties in this complex environment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Brady, Parrish C -- Gilerson, Alexander A -- Kattawar, George W -- Sullivan, James M -- Twardowski, Michael S -- Dierssen, Heidi M -- Gao, Meng -- Travis, Kort -- Etheredge, Robert Ian -- Tonizzo, Alberto -- Ibrahim, Amir -- Carrizo, Carlos -- Gu, Yalong -- Russell, Brandon J -- Mislinski, Kathryn -- Zhao, Shulei -- Cummings, Molly E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 20;350(6263):965-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5284. Epub 2015 Nov 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA. ; Optical Remote Sensing Laboratory, the City College of New York-CUNY, New York, NY 10031, USA. ; Department of Physics and Astronomy and Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA. ; Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Ft. Pierce, FL 34946, USA. ; Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut Avery Point, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340-6048, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26586762" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Biological Mimicry
;
Blood Platelets/cytology
;
Ecosystem
;
Fishes/*physiology
;
Oceans and Seas
;
Predatory Behavior
;
*Selection, Genetic
;
Skin/anatomy & histology/blood supply
;
Vision, Ocular
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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