Some Properties of the Photoreceptors of the Brook Lamprey

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper describes an investigation of the physiological characteristics of the light receptors situated in the skin of the ammocoete larva of the brook lamprey, Lampetra planeri (Bloch). The interest of these organs lies in the fact that they are the only type of simple photoreceptor among the Vertebrates of which we possess any precise information. They may well be considered a kind of functional link between the simpler types of photoreceptor systems, which are found in many Invertebrates, in Pholas, Mya and Ciona, for example, and the fully developed image-forming eye of Vertebrates. We are at present almost completely ignorant of the photosensitive processes of animals at levels of organization below that of the image-forming eye, and an analysis of the properties of these simpler types of receptors offers one of the most promising approaches to an understanding of the common pattern of photoreceptor processes in general.
Keywords

This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit: