Abstract
Most deep-sea fish have visual pigments that are most sensitive to wavelengths around 460-490 nm, the intensity maxima of both conventional blue bioluminescence and dim residual sunlight1. The predatory deep-sea dragon fish Malacosteus niger, the closely related Aristostomias sp. and Pachystomias microdon can, in addition to blue bioluminescence, also emit far-red light from suborbital photophores2, which is invisible to other deep-sea animals. Whereas Aristostomias sp. enhances its long-wavelength sensitivity using visual pigments that are unusually red sensitive3, we now report that M. niger attains the same result using a derivative of chlorophyll as a photosensitizer.
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Author information
Affiliations
Applied Vision Research Centre, Department of Optometry and Visual Science, City University, 311-321 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7DD, UK e-mail: r.h.douglas@city.ac.uk
- R. H. Douglas
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
- J. C. Partridge
Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London, Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, UK
- K. Dulai
- & D. Hunt
Department of Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- C. W. Mullineaux
Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, PO Box 55, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
- A. Y. Tauber
- & P. H. Hynninen
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