Summary
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1.
When stimulated with white light of intensity between 0,4 and 53 Lux the chromatophores on isolated spine bases of Centrostephanus longispinus show a degree of pigment dispersion which is proportional to the light intensity (Fig. 2).
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2.
With stronger intensities, light induces a maximal pigment dispersion; darkness causes a maximal pigment concentration. Concentration is quicker than dispersion. In different chromatophore stages both processes differ in the forms of pigment distribution (Fig. 3).
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3.
The most common chromatophores are brown but there are also violet and yellow ones; they differ in the size and form of the pigment granules. With the method employed a difference in the reaction to white light could not be demonstrated. Possibly they are different developmental stages of one single type of chromatophore.
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Literatur
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Die Untersuchungen wurden an der Zoologischen Station Neapel ausgeführt und durch eine Beihilfe der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft unterstützt.
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Dambach, M. Die Reaktion der Chromatophoren des Seeigels Centrostephanus longispinus auf Licht. Z. vergl. Physiologie 64, 400–406 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00340434
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00340434