Ackroyd Ella J, Heathcote Robert J P, Ioannou Christos C
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Jan 8;12(1):241073. doi: 10.1098/rsos.241073. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Many animals are capable of rapid dynamic colour change, which is particularly well represented in fishes. The proximate mechanisms of dynamic colour change in fishes are well understood; however, less attention has been given to understanding its ecological relevance. In this study, we investigate dynamic colour change in zebrafish () across multiple contexts, using a protocol to image the colouration of live fish without anaesthesia under standardized conditions. We show that zebrafish respond to different visual environments by darkening their overall colouration in a dark environment and lightening in a light environment. This is consistent with crypsis through background matching as a function of dynamic colour change. Additionally, we find that zebrafish use dynamic colour change to increase the internal contrast of their striped patterning in the presence of conspecifics. We speculate that this may function in social signalling and/or dazzle colouration. We find no effect of a predator stimulus on dynamic colour change. Finally, we discuss the potential for zebrafish to use multiple colouration strategies simultaneously as distance-dependent effects, considering the typical viewing distances of zebrafish and their predators.
许多动物都能够快速进行动态颜色变化，这种现象在鱼类中表现得尤为突出。鱼类动态颜色变化的近端机制已得到充分了解；然而，对于理解其生态相关性的关注较少。在本研究中，我们使用一种在标准化条件下对未麻醉的活鱼进行颜色成像的方案，研究了斑马鱼在多种环境下的动态颜色变化。我们发现，斑马鱼在黑暗环境中会通过加深整体颜色来做出反应，而在明亮环境中则会变浅。这与作为动态颜色变化功能的通过背景匹配实现的保护色一致。此外，我们发现斑马鱼在有同种个体存在时会利用动态颜色变化来增加其条纹图案的内部对比度。我们推测这可能在社会信号传递和/或迷惑色中起作用。我们没有发现捕食者刺激对动态颜色变化有影响。最后，考虑到斑马鱼及其捕食者的典型观察距离，我们讨论了斑马鱼同时使用多种颜色策略作为距离依赖效应的可能性。
