Ommochrome
A group of pigments giving colour to the eyes of insects, crustaceans and some other animals
No single value: Ommochrome is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Ommochromes are biological pigments found in the eyes of insects, crustaceans, spiders, and cephalopods. They produce colours from yellow to black, depending on their type and mixture, and are derived from tryptophan. Ommochromes also have antioxidant properties and can suppress certain chemical reactions.
- Found in the eyes of insects, crustaceans, spiders and cephalopods
- Produce colours from yellow to black
- Made from tryptophan via kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine
- Have antioxidant and anti-radical properties
What colour is Ommochrome?
Ommochromes are a group of pigments that give colour to the eyes of many insects, crustaceans, spiders, and cephalopods. The colours they produce range from yellow through red and brown to black. The lighter shades are mainly due to ommatins, while darker hues come from a mix of ommatin and ommin types. These pigments are usually stored as granules in cells just under the surface of the animal's body or eye.
Where does Ommochrome come from?
The name 'ommochrome' refers to their role in colouring the ommatidia, which are the units of compound eyes in arthropods. They are not named after a person or place. Ommochromes are formed from tryptophan, an amino acid, through a series of chemical steps involving kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine.
How is Ommochrome made?
Ommochromes are not made by humans but are produced naturally in animals. They are metabolites of tryptophan, which means they are formed as the animal breaks down this amino acid. The process goes through kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine before resulting in the final pigment. In spiders, these pigments are stored as granules just under the outer layer of the body.
Where Ommochrome is used
Ommochromes are mainly found in the eyes of insects and crustaceans, where they determine eye colour. They are also present in the chromatophores (colour-changing cells) of cephalopods and in the skin of spiders. Their main role is to give colour, but they also have chemical properties that help protect cells from damage.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: B貌g貌lanfiniShades and relatives of Ommochrome
Ommochromes cover a range of colours from yellow to black. Ommatins are responsible for the lighter shades, while darker colours result from a mix of ommatin and ommin pigments. The exact colour depends on the type and mixture of ommochromes present.
Questions people ask about Ommochrome
What colour is ommochrome?
Ommochromes can produce a range of colours from yellow through red and brown to black, depending on their type and mixture.
Where does the name ommochrome come from?
The name refers to their role in colouring the ommatidia, the units of compound eyes in arthropods.
What are ommochromes made from?
They are made from tryptophan, an amino acid, through chemical steps involving kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine.
Where are ommochromes found?
They are found in the eyes of insects, crustaceans, spiders, and in the chromatophores of cephalopods.
Do ommochromes have any special properties?
Yes, ommochromes have antioxidant properties and can help protect cells from oxidative stress.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Ommochrome", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryRang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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