For example, [this colour wheel has 12 sections](https://www.spectrumnoir.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Colour-Wheel-2.jpg) and performs a full ‘loop’ for lack of a better term (i.e. starts at red, traverses to the polar opposite, and returns the natural way). We can see every one of these clearly, and every colour in between those two colours as it’s simple a mixture, or a mixture of a mixture, or so on. So how can a colour exist outside this wheel?
In: Biology
Humans only have three color cones in the retinas in our eyes. Red, green, blue. Our world is made up of more color than what we can actually see. We cannot comprehend more colors or what they could possibly be because our brains/eyes can never calculate them.
When light strikes a cone, it interacts with a visual pigment which consists of a protein called opsin and a small molecule called a chromophore which in humans is a derivative of vitamin A. Three different kinds of opsins respond to short, medium and long wavelengths of light and lead to the three response curves shown above. For a person to see an object in color, at least two kinds of cones must be triggered, and the perceived color is based on the relative level of excitation of the different cones.
The mantis shrimp has between 12-16 color cones. It’s insane to me that so many colors are out there to see.
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