Fig. 3. Removing conserved structural elements increases reflectance 3- to 16-fold.

Reflectance of two overlapping scales backed by a 100% reflecting white surface simulated with the finite-difference time-domain method (unit cell for each simulation is shown). Included is the full-scale model (blue), scales with the trabeculae removed (red), with the ridges removed (yellow), with the basal lamina removed (purple), both ridges and trabeculae removed (brown), and a rectangular block made of the same volume of absorbing material as the full-scale (green). Full scales reflect 2.5–10% of the light reflected from a rectangular block of absorbing material. Removing the robust trabeculae or ridges increases reflectance by 3- to 16-fold, while the lamina has little effect on the reflectance. Curves are made by averaging five simulation runs with unit cell sizes spanning +/− 5% of the standard cell.