The effect of temperature on the light-induced pigment movement in fish corneal chromatophores

Corneal chromatophores of unusual morphology were used for studies on the i nfluence of temperature on the intracellular pigment movement in two specie s of marine fish from different temperature zones: the tropical puffer, Can thigaster cinctus, and boreal whitespotted greenling, Hexagrammos stelleri, It was shown that both dispersion under bright illumination and aggregatio n at darkening are slower or decrease at lower temperatures when examined i n the range of 12-27 degrees C. The mean speed of the pigment translocation s in the individual cell process was 0.38 mu m/s at the highest temperature examined, with a range of 0.17-1.0 mu m/s. Near the middle of the temperat ure range, the dynamic characteristics of cell pigment movement in tropical and boreal species were rather close, suggesting that there would be littl e divergent adaptations with respect to the mechanisms of the pigment trans port, Corneal chromatophores are considered as a new promising model for ce ll motility studies.