The visual ecology of a deep-sea fish, the escolar Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Smith, 1843).
Landgren, Eva LU ; Fritsches, Kerstin ; Brill, Richard and Warrant, Eric LU
(2014)
In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
369(1636).
- Abstract
- Escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, family Gempylidae) are large and darkly coloured deep-sea predatory fish found in the cold depths (more than 200 m) during the day and in warm surface waters at night. They have large eyes and an overall low density of retinal ganglion cells that endow them with a very high optical sensitivity. Escolar have banked retinae comprising six to eight layers of rods to increase the optical path length for maximal absorption of the incoming light. Their retinae possess two main areae of higher ganglion cell density, one in the ventral retina viewing the dorsal world above (with a moderate acuity of 4.6 cycles deg(-1)), and the second in the temporal retina viewing the frontal world ahead. Electrophysiological... (More)
- Escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, family Gempylidae) are large and darkly coloured deep-sea predatory fish found in the cold depths (more than 200 m) during the day and in warm surface waters at night. They have large eyes and an overall low density of retinal ganglion cells that endow them with a very high optical sensitivity. Escolar have banked retinae comprising six to eight layers of rods to increase the optical path length for maximal absorption of the incoming light. Their retinae possess two main areae of higher ganglion cell density, one in the ventral retina viewing the dorsal world above (with a moderate acuity of 4.6 cycles deg(-1)), and the second in the temporal retina viewing the frontal world ahead. Electrophysiological recordings of the flicker fusion frequency (FFF) in isolated retinas indicate that escolar have slow vision, with maximal FFF at the highest light levels and temperatures (around 9 Hz at 23°C) which fall to 1-2 Hz in dim light or cooler temperatures. Our results suggest that escolar are slowly moving sit-and-wait predators. In dim, warm surface waters at night, their slow vision, moderate dorsal resolution and highly sensitive eyes may allow them to surprise prey from below that are silhouetted in the downwelling light. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4291961
- author
- Landgren, Eva
LU
; Fritsches, Kerstin
; Brill, Richard
and Warrant, Eric
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- deep-sea vision, eye, escolar, visual ecology, visual sensitivity, visual resolution
- in
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 369
- issue
- 1636
- article number
- 20130039
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:24395966
- wos:000332465800008
- scopus:84891649696
- pmid:24395966
- ISSN
- 1471-2970
- DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2013.0039
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 48495489-4d8a-4dc9-b7de-b17bcf820cd0 (old id 4291961)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:07:30
- date last changed
- 2022-04-28 07:15:31
@article{48495489-4d8a-4dc9-b7de-b17bcf820cd0,
abstract = {{Escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, family Gempylidae) are large and darkly coloured deep-sea predatory fish found in the cold depths (more than 200 m) during the day and in warm surface waters at night. They have large eyes and an overall low density of retinal ganglion cells that endow them with a very high optical sensitivity. Escolar have banked retinae comprising six to eight layers of rods to increase the optical path length for maximal absorption of the incoming light. Their retinae possess two main areae of higher ganglion cell density, one in the ventral retina viewing the dorsal world above (with a moderate acuity of 4.6 cycles deg(-1)), and the second in the temporal retina viewing the frontal world ahead. Electrophysiological recordings of the flicker fusion frequency (FFF) in isolated retinas indicate that escolar have slow vision, with maximal FFF at the highest light levels and temperatures (around 9 Hz at 23°C) which fall to 1-2 Hz in dim light or cooler temperatures. Our results suggest that escolar are slowly moving sit-and-wait predators. In dim, warm surface waters at night, their slow vision, moderate dorsal resolution and highly sensitive eyes may allow them to surprise prey from below that are silhouetted in the downwelling light.}},
author = {{Landgren, Eva and Fritsches, Kerstin and Brill, Richard and Warrant, Eric}},
issn = {{1471-2970}},
keywords = {{deep-sea vision; eye; escolar; visual ecology; visual sensitivity; visual resolution}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1636}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{The visual ecology of a deep-sea fish, the escolar Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Smith, 1843).}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0039}},
doi = {{10.1098/rstb.2013.0039}},
volume = {{369}},
year = {{2014}},
}