And that is where spirulina comes into play. While it is true that the physical layout of an aquarium, including illumination, can affect a fish’s coloration, ultimately it is diet that has the greatest impact on its appearance. In fact, they have seven distinct types of chromatophores:Įach chromatophore can actually produce several types of pigments and it is the transparency of the scales and the thinness of the epidermis that allow the pigments show through the skin as color for display. Beyond that, however, among all vertebrates fish have the largest number of color-producing cells-called chromatophores-in their bodies. At the genetic level, all fish have a basic “complexion” determined by the color of underlying bodily tissues and fluids. The Physiology of Fish ColorĪs with the aforementioned flamingo, the question of how ornamental fish display color boils down to a matter of genes, environment, and diet. In other words, color likely plays a role in providing the fish with a defense mechanism (whether as camouflage or as a warning to predators), attracting mates, and possibly even communicating danger and other signals to its schoolmates. Another states that coloration helps them identify members of their own species. One theory is that bright coloration gives these reef-dwellers the advantage of camouflage in an environment that is equally colorful, allowing them to “hide” from predators in plain sight among multicolored rocks, corals, and sponges. Therefore it must serve some practical survival purpose. Why are they so prodigiously and gratuitously colorful? Unlike their rather dull-colored benthic cousins, who dwell in the deeps where sunlight does not penetrate (and so color is meaningless), a reef fish has excellent eyesight and can detect the colors and patterns of its fellow inhabitants. While not perfectly understood, this variety certainly arose out of evolutionary need. The sheer variety of fish shapes, sizes, patterns, and colors is endlessly appealing. The main reason we pursue this hobby is quite simple: fish are beautiful to look at. In the modern era, one way we pay homage to that fascination is by setting up aquariums in our homes. The sea, our ultimate source of life yet still so much a mystery, has fascinated human beings since before recorded history. It has often been noted that we know more about the planets in our solar system than about the oceans on planet Earth. One of the keys in accomplishing this goal is spirulina. This Tale of the Flamingo serves to illustrate in simple form the complex biochemical mechanism that creates the equally distinctive coloration of reef and other ornamental fish-and why the serious aquarist or fish hobbyist must take special steps to ensure that the animals in their care remain so vibrantly colored in the artificial environment of an aquarium. And that is how Nature turns a white flamingo pink.įor that reason, flamingos kept in captivity must be fed a special diet-one that mimics their diet in the wild-consisting of similarly colored crustaceans such as prawns, along with supplemental “pigmenting” additives (typically beta-carotene or canthaxanthin) so that the birds retain their distinctive coloration. These molecules are subsequently absorbed into the bloodstream and then deposited in the flamingo’s feathers, legs, and bill. So that being the case, why don’t you ever see a blue or green flamingo? The answer to that question is that in the process of digestion, the bird’s liver breaks down the carotenoids into smaller pigment molecules that are pink and orange in color. So what makes them pink? In the wild, these birds feed on a combination of blue-green algae and crustaceans containing carotenoids, which are naturally occurring chemical pigments. In point of fact, flamingos are naturally white. If your answer was “pink”-you’d be wrong. Before discussing the health and aesthetic benefits of supplementing the diet of your ornamental aquarium fish with spirulina fish food, we will first pose here a trick question: “What color is a pink flamingo?”
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