Blue Tails

Can you #FindThatLizard?!

Juvenile western skinks, Plestiodon skiltonianus, have blue tails to deter predators. It seems counterintuitive. Why would you want to stand out as a way of defense?

In 2016, Japanese scientists published a study focusing on the Far Eastern skink, lestiodon latiscutatus. They examined different populations across various Japanese islands. The islands had different primary predators. They found that populations with snakes as the main predators had more conspicuous tails with high UV reflection, making it more likely that the snakes would target the detachable tail rather than the main body. The skinks were more likely to have brown tails on islands where birds were the primary predators. The scientists hypothesize this is because bird predators don’t utilize UV light and instead rely on keen eyesight, which makes camouflage a more effective strategy.

Where did the blue color come from? Like most other organisms, lizards create the blue color through structural coloration. They have crystals in specialized skin cells called iridophores that reflect blue light.

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