Purple haze!
A purpleback flying squid pauses briefly on a night dive over deep water in Bunaken Marine Park, Indonesia. The photo was taken during a‘ blackwater’ dive to witness the vertical migration of plankton. This open water squid is a juvenile – around 10cm – and extremely fast. They are usually too skittish to photograph, but it paused briefly, frozen in the torchlight. The squid’ s torpedo-like mantle is densely covered in specialised skin cells: the brilliant pink, purple and gold hues are created by structural iridophores that reflect or diffract light. These are in turn layered alongside pigmented colour cells called chromatophores. Ironically, the squid itself sees in monotone and polarised light, so their vivid beauty is just a side-effect. Photo by Simon Rogerson �
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