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American Zoologist 1966 6(2):181-186; doi:10.1093/icb/6.2.181
© 1966 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
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Pigmentary Rhythms as Indicators of Neurosecretion

H. MARGUERITE WEBB
Department of Biological Sciences, Goucher College Towson, Md. and the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, Mass.

The state of contraction of crustacean chromatophores is known to be dependent on a variety of hormones secreted by various parts of the nervous system. For the fiddler crab the state of the chromatophores varies with the time of day and is little affected by changes in light intensity or background. An additional factor influencing chromatophores is a lunar-tidal rhythm. The effects of naturally-changing photoperiods and of a constant artificial photoperiod on the condition of the chromatophores of Uca pugnax are described. The lunar-tidal rhythm is seen to affect the chromatophores at hours transitional between the day and night phase for at least 21/2 months after the animals are removed from tidal conditions. The time of entrance into the night phase of the diurnal rhythm varies widely as a function of phase of the moon when the animals are exposed to long photoperiods. Short photoperiods restrict the range of this variation but appear to have little effect on the minimum duration of the day phase in any 15-day period. Consideration of both diurnal and tidal rhythms may permit selection of times of maximum differences in chromatophores which might also reflect maximum differences in neurosecretory activity.


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