Bio-inspired chromatophore network model generates dynamic skin patterns akin to those observed in cephalopods

Cephalopod skin exhibits a wide range of dynamic visual displays, including traveling waves, light/dark flashes, and flickering, all generated by muscle-regulated expansion and retraction of pigment-filled elastic sacs known as chromatophores. While central neural control is essential for high-level body-wide pattern coordination, experimental evidence from excised and denervated skin reveals that intricate spatiotemporal patterns can also emerge spontaneously in the skin. This raises questions about the respective roles of central versus peripheral control. To determine the simplest control necessary to generate such patterns, we developed ChromatoNet, a biophysical model of chromatophore arrays that includes mechanical interactions on 1- and 2-dimensional lattices with the excitability properties of radial muscles. With minimal external input, our modified Morris--Lecar model reproduces a rich repertoire of skin dynamics, including spontaneous flickering as well as traveling and spiral waves. Both spontaneous and stimulus-evoked waves emerge at an intrinsic resonant frequency, determined by model parameters. Propagation speeds remain stable across conditions and are consistent with the range observed in denervated skin preparations. The model generates diverse output states in response to local couplings and the time-dependence and shape of the input stimulation, with little top-down direction. The results provide a proof-of-principle that chromatophore/muscle dynamics with minimal central neural driving can produce rich dynamic patterns.