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Figure 2
(A) Erythrophores were present on the body and were particularly evident on the anal fin (closeup at right), where these cells were found more proximally than yellow xanthophores. (B) At larval stages xanthophore-like cells with a uniform orange coloration occurred across the entire fin (left panels). Later in the adult, proximal red erythrophores and distal yellow xanthophores have distinct colors (middle and right panels). (C) Erythrophores and xanthophores had different spectra under epiflourescence. Erythrophores autofluorescenced in red (displayed in magenta) whereas xanthophores autofluoresced in green. (D) Hue values under brightfield illumination were correlated with ratios of red to green autofluorescence (R2 = 0.92, p < 0.0001). (E) Colors of cells varied across the proximodistal axis of the fin, shown as relative position with fin base at 0 and fin tip at 1. Erythrophores in proximal regions were distinct in both fluorescence ratio and visible hue from xanthophores in distal regions though some intergradation was evident in middle regions, near the melanophore stripe. N = 250 cells from five adult males in D and E. Color fills represent red to green fluorescence ratios. (F) During the larva-to-adult transformation, ratios of red to green autofluorescence diverged between prospective erythrophore and xanthophore regions. Individual red and yellow points correspond to mean values of cells in in proximal and distal regions, respectively, from each of 31 male or female fish (N = 620 cells total) imaged at a range of developmental stages represented by different standard lengths (SL). Scale bars: 5 mm (A, left), 1 mm (A, right); 25 μm (B, C).
Anal fin pigment pattern of D. albolineatus and its ontogeny.