Prolactin directly affects erythrophores and xanthophores of teleost fish, resulting in pigment dispersion. In the present study, signal transduction elicited by prolactin was examined using split-tail fin preparations of the rose bitterling and Nile tilapia, and cultured erythrophores and xanthophores from the paradise goby and rose bitterling. When antibodies to the prolactin receptor were added to an ovine prolactin (oPRL) solution, pigment dispersion within cultured cells was significantly inhibited, suggesting the existence of a prolactin receptor in the cell membrane. In mammals and birds, prolactin receptors belong to a cytokine receptor superfamily and signal through a tyrosine kinase-mediated pathway. Therefore, we examined the effects of three kinds of protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors on pigment dispersion elicited by oPRL. None of those inhibitors depressed the response. On the other hand, lithium ions (an inhibitor of adenylate cyclase) and H-88 and H-89 (inhibitors of protein kinase A) decreased the levels of oPRL-induced pigment dispersion in a dose-dependent manner. In cultured cells treated with cholera toxin for 3 hrs, the effect of oPRL was irreversible, indicating the possible involvement of Gs protein in the prolactin action. From these results, we conclude that cAMP may be a second messenger in the dispersion of pigment induced by prolactin and that a novel protein receptor coupled with a Gs protein may be present in the membrane of erythrophores and xanthophores of teleost fish.