Color changes in Palaemonetes

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Abstract
The pigmentary system of Palaemonetes vulgaris contains four pigments. These are red, yellow, blue, and white. With the exception of the blue all are found exclusively within chromatophores and are capable of becoming either dispersed into chromatophore branches or concentrated into chromatophore centers. The state of dispersion or concentration of each pigment is quite independent of the state of any other pigment and is determined by the color of the background upon which the animal lies. It is by the mixing of appropriately colored pigments by dispersion of those pigments that the animal adapts itself to its background. The blue pigment appears to be in the same chromatophore with the red but its dispersal is not restricted by the confines of the pigment cells, and its disappearance from tissues seems to be a case of destruction in situ. The rates of measured in background changes. In the case of each pigment, concentration was more rapid than dispersion and the rates for the red and white pigments were approximately the same.

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