Is anyone else seeing this picture and immediately wondering what molecules regulate the orderly dispersal of those well-distributed pigment cells?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Is anyone else seeing this picture and immediately wondering what molecules regulate the orderly dispersal of those well-distributed pigment cells?
I thought it was ordered from Ivanka.
Same ones that arrange strawberry seeds? (Almost certainly not, unless the viruseses have been extremely busy, but it’s what that kind of dispersed dot pattern makes me think of.)
The mildly deranged penguin says these are easy to make: Take a small black squid (doesn’t have to be spherical, but is less likely to explode due to uneven stresses if it is†), connect to an air pump or Trump, and let blow. The squid inflates rapidly. It is so busy making new squidly-stuff in an effort to not explode, it doesn’t bother with black pigment. End result, if the formerly-small squid is not in smaller bits and you can disconnect it from the pump or distracted Trump, is a larger mostly-white squid with black spots.
† Sadly, the explosions tend to more damp than LOUD!
Yes! On most matters you and I will wonder about similar things. My guess would be lateral inhibition. But I would be pleased to learn that I am wrong.
Yeah, my first thought was that Wnt-mediated contact inhibition like we see in neural crest derivatives could play a role, but then…these aren’t derived from neural crest. And dang, but there’s a dearth of literature on contact inhibition in molluscs.