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Colour Response in a Leech

Abstract

COLOUR change in response to environmental conditions has been described in the following groups: vertebrates, crustaceans, and certain molluscs. There are two types of mechanism by which rapid redistribution of the pigment in the skin is brought about. In molluscs, the pigment is contained in minute elastic bags, which can be expanded by means of a specially arranged musculature, and contract because of their own elasticity. In crustaceans and vertebrates, the pigment is present as granules inside stellate cells, and can migrate through the protoplasm, being either localised in the centre of the cell or distributed more or less evenly through its processes.

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References

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WELLS, G. Colour Response in a Leech. Nature 129, 686–687 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129686b0

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