The Control of Eyestalk Movements in the Mysid Shrimp Praunus Flexuosus

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Abstract
The compensatory eyestalk movements of intact and statocystless mysid shrimps Praunus flexuosus have been measured under a variety of light conditions. The results indicate that the statocyst organs in the urppods are the major gravity receptors, and that they are both necessary and sufficient to produce sinusoidal compensatory eyestalk movements. The addition of visual cues (vertical light beam, optokinetic stimuli) modifies the eyestalk response to some extent, but does not alter its general form. When the statocysts are removed, however, light stimuli become important orientational cues, and the eyestalks perform a tracking response which is considered to be the experimental counterpart of the dorsal light reaction of the free-swimming animal.