Pretty patterns on your skin are great for camouflage, but can they tell more than tales of concealment? The loliginid family of squid congregate in schools that can be found at depths as great as 400 m. Most of these squid are effectively transparent, making them almost invisible at these depths, yet they have all of the specialised camouflage mechanisms found on their opaque cousins. One of these structures, the iridophore, consists of stacks of chitin plates that are separated by cytomplasmic spaces. When visible light enters these structures it is reflected. If the optical thickness of the plates and spaces separating them is one quarter of the wavelength of some of the wavelengths of incident light, only that wavelength will be reflected from the interface. The rest of the light will be transmitted into the squid’s body. Consequently only certain colours will be reflected by the iridophore. This will...
Using the reactive scope model to redefine social stress in fishes
In their Review, Katie Gilmour and colleagues redefine the ambiguous concept of social stress by using the reactive scope model as a framework to explain the divergent physiological phenotypes of dominant and subordinate fishes.
JEB grants to support junior faculty
Learn about the grants that we launched in 2023 to support junior faculty from two of our awardees: Erin Leonard, Early-Career Researcher (ECR) Visiting Fellowship recipient, and Pauline Fleischmann, Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grant recipient. The next deadline to apply is 6 June 2025.
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels survive extraordinarily low blood oxygen
Brynne Duffy and colleagues reveal that thirteen-lined ground squirrels are true hypoxia champions surviving extreme low blood oxygen, down to just 34% oxygen, when they emerge briefly from hibernation.
The Company of Biologists Workshops
For the last 15 years, our publisher, The Company of Biologists, has provided an apt environment to inspire biology and support biologists through our Workshops series. Read about the evolution of the Workshop series and revisit JEB's experience with hosting the first Global South Workshop.
Fast & Fair peer review
Our sister journal Biology Open has recently launched the next phase of their Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. To learn more about BiO’s progress and future plans, read the Editorial by Daniel Gorelick, or visit the Fast & Fair peer review page.
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