cryptic coloration(crypsis) Coloration that makes animals difficult to distinguish against their background, so tending to reduce predation. The effect of cryptic coloration may be to cause the appearance of the animal to merge into its background (e.g. the absence of all colour in some pelagic fish larvae) or to break up the body outline (e.g. the spotted patterns of many bottom-dwelling flat fish). Both effects often occur in the same animal.

cryptic coloration (crypsis) Coloration that makes animals difficult to distinguish against their background, so tending to reduce predation. The effect of cryptic coloration may be to cause the appearance of the animal to merge into its background (e.g. the absence of all colour in some pelagic fish larvae) or to break up the body outline (e.g. the spotted patterns of many bottom-dwelling flatfish). Both effects often occur in the same animal.

cryptic coloration The type of colouring or marking of an animal that helps to camouflage it in its natural environment. It may enable the animal to blend with its background or, like the stripes of zebras and tigers, help to break up the outline of its body.