Dark skin gives seven to eightfold protection against DNA damage, but even the darkest skin colour cannot protect against all damage to DNA. Dark skin offers great protection against UVR because of its eumelanin content, the UVR-absorbing capabilities of large melanosomes, and because eumelanin can be mobilized faster and brought to the surface of the skin from the depths of the epidermis. For the same body region, light- and dark-skinned individuals have similar numbers of melanocytes (there is considerable variation between different body regions), but pigment-containing organelles, called melanosomes, are larger and more numerous in dark-skinned individuals. Keratocytes from dark skin cocultured
Biological pigment or pigment cells, or from the excess production of pigment. Carotenoids are the most common group of pigments found in nature. Over 600 different kinds of carotenoids are found in animals, plants, and microorganisms. Animals are incapable of making their own carotenoids and thus rely on plants for these pigments. Carotenoproteins are especially common among marine animals. These complexes are responsible for the various colors (red, purple, blue, green, etc.) to these marine invertebrates for mating rituals and camouflage. There are two main types of carotenoproteins: Type A and Type B. Type A has carotenoids (chromogen) which are stoichiometrically associated