Night camo

[cnewsom91]

Last night I had a minor freak out when I saw my new yellow tang with a giant brown spot and ghostly pale coloration. After I flipped the lights on the coloration returned to normal within minutes. Apparently this is a form of camouflage? Are there a lot of fish that do this? What kinds?

 

[potterjon]

Almost all fish change their color. You can see it when they are stressed, my orange shoulder tang goes almost striped black and white.

 

[cnewsom91]

Oh okay, i haven't had many fish yet so I hadn't noticed anything like that I guess

 

[Zswift]

I think all yellow tangs do it. Mine did it, and it scared me at first before I learned it was alright

 

[EllieSuz]

I nearly had a fit the first time I saw my sleeping Mandarin. They turn a grey/white at night and look dead as can be.

 

[cubiclewarrior]

I nearly had a fit the first time I saw my sleeping Mandarin. They turn a grey/white at night and look dead as can be.

Mine does the same thing. I believe the cells are called chromatophores but its been quite a while since i was in school. I have seen lots of hypothesis on this subject. Anything from they change their color to protect themselves from predators to they do it because at night they ramp down. not sure who right or not but basically its quite normal for marine fish to do this.

 

[cnewsom91]

Good to know about the mandarin, all of the places I've researched them seem to have left that little bit of information out. That'll save me a heart attack in the future

 

[kender]

My blue chromas do the same thing. The are a pretty sky blue when the lights are on but they fade to white when the go to sleep at night.