chromatophore
(ˈkrəʊmətəfɔə(r))
Also -phor.
[f. chromato- + Gr. -ϕορος bearing, bearer.]
1. Physiol. A pigment-cell, possessing contractile processes, contained in the skin of many animals. Esp. applied to those of the Cephalopoda, which by their contraction and change of shape cause a change of colour in the skin.
| 1864 Webster cites Dana. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 89 [In Cephalopoda], The tegumentary system is distinguished..by the presence of chromatophores. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. xii. 488 We may find (e.g. in the Chameleon) cutaneous structures termed chromatophores, which are little sacs containing pigment of various colours and each with an aperture, which when open allows the colour to appear. 1881 Mivart in Nature No. 615. 336 In trout which are kept alive in dark places, the black chromatophores are expanded, and consequently such specimens are very dark-coloured. |
2. Bot. [G. (F. Schmitz Die Chromatophoren der Algen (1882) 4).] A plastid containing coloured pigments, as a chromoplast or a chloroplast.
| 1895 Oliver tr. Kerner's Nat. Hist. Plants II. 629 This chlorophyll-layer or chromatophore. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 407/2 A coloured protoplasmic body, called a chromatophore, the pigment of which in the pure green forms is chlorophyll, and which may then be called a chloroplast. 1960 L. Picken Organization of Cells iii. 61 Some bacteria contain well-defined chromatophores associated with photosynthetic activity. 1965 Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. (new ed.) 43 The yellow and orange colours of many flowers.., as well as the bright red of many fruits (e.g. hips, haws, and tomatoes), are caused, at least partly, by photosynthetically inactive chromatophores. |
Hence ˌchromatoˈphoric a., pertaining to or containing chromatophores; chromaˈtophorous a., bearing chromatophores.
| 1881 in Syd. Soc. Lex. 1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 389 The theory that light acts directly on the chromatophoric cells has been proved to be incorrect. 1904 Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Ser. B. 322 The groups which make up the primary chromatophoric system. |