Single and multiple visual pigments in deep-sea fishes
- 1 February 1992
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
- Vol. 72 (1) , 113-130
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315400048827
Abstract
The visual pigments in the retinal rods of 17 species of deep-sea fish were examined by microspectrophotometry or visual pigment extract spectrophotometry. In 15 species single visual pigments were found with peak sensitivities between 470 and 490 nm, typical of deep-sea fishes. However, in one species,Stylephorons cordatus, two visual pigments were found with λ values at 470 and 481 nm. In another species,Scopelarchus analis, three visual pigments were found with mean λ values of 444, 479 and 505 nm. The short-wave pigment of this species was found both in main and accessory retinae. It was present both in single rods and in outer segments which had the most long-wave sensitive pigment in their distal parts. It is argued that these two-pigment rods are in the process of changing their visual pigment from a ‘juvenile’ VP505 pigment to an ‘adult’ VP444 pigment. The VP479 was found only as a single pigment in rods in the accessory retina.Keywords
This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- Short-wave absorbing pigments in the ocular lenses of deep-sea teleostsJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1992
- Adaptations of visual pigments to the photic environment of the deep seaJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1990
- Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Vol. 1Ichthyology & Herpetology, 1986
- On yellow lenses in mesopelagic animalsJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1976
- The N.I.O. combination net (RMT 1 + 8) and further developments of rectangular midwater trawlsJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1973
- The angular distribution of the light produced by some mesopelagic fish in relation to their camouflageProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1972
- Retinal anatomy in some scopelarchid deep-sea fishesProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1971
- Periodicity of Absorption Properties in Pigments based on Vitamin A2 from Fish RetinæNature, 1964
- Visual Pigments and Depths of Habitat of Marine FishesNature, 1957
- On the Depth at Which Fish Can SeeEcology, 1936