Abstract
STOMATOPOD crustaceans, commonly named mantis shrimps, have compound eyes of unique design. A central band composed of six parallel rows of ommatidia separates two peripheral ommatidial groups, and all three regions view the same area of visual space1–3. In the central bands of members of the stomatopod superfamily Gonodactyloidea, four of the ommatidial rows are built of tiers of photoreceptors; in two of these rows, the photoreceptors themselves contain coloured filters4. Such a design could in principle produce many spectral classes of photoreceptors using only a single visual pigment4,5. We measured the absorption spectra of the coloured filters and the visual pigments in frozen sections of retinae of a typical species, Pseudosquilla ciliata, using end-on microspectrophotometry. The retina contains not one, but as many as ten visual pigments, each in a distinct photoreceptor class, having maximum absorbances at wavelengths from 400 to 539 nm. Because of the unique anatomy of stomatopod eyes, ten or more spectral types of photoreceptors exist in this species.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Horridge, G. A. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 285, 1–59 (1978).
Schiff, H. & Candone, P. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 83A, 445–455 (1986).
Cronin, T. W. J. crust. Biol. 6, 1–23 (1986).
Marshall, N. J. Nature 333, 557–560 (1988).
Hardie, R. C. Nature 333, 499–500 (1988).
Stavenga, D. G. & Schwemer, J. in Photoreception and Vision in Invertebrates (ed. Ali, M. A. ) 11–61 (Plenum, New York, 1984).
Goldsmith, T. H. Vision Res. 18, 463–473 (1978).
Cronin, T. W. J. comp. Physiol. A156, 679–687 (1985).
Cronin, T. W. & Forward, R. B. Jr, J. comp. Physiol. A162, 463–478 (1988).
Lipetz, L. E. & Cronin, T. W. Vision Res. 28, 1083–1093 (1988).
Bruno, M. S., Barnes, S. N. & Goldsmith, T. H. J. comp. Physiol. 120, 123–142 (1977).
Hiller-Adams, P., Widder, E. A. & Case, J. F. J. comp. Physiol. A163, 63–72 (1988).
Avery, J. A., Bowmaker, J. K., Djamgoz, M. B. A. & Downing, J. E. G. J. Physiol., Lond. 334, 23P–24P (1983).
Hárosi, F. I. & Hashimoto, Y. Science 222, 1021–1023 (1983).
Ohtsuka, T. J. comp. Neurol. 237, 145–154 (1985).
Ohtsuka, T. Science 229, 874–877 (1985).
Jane, S. D. & Bowmaker, J. K. J. comp. Physiol. A162, 225–235 (1988).
Cummins, D. R. & Goldsmith, T. H. J. comp. Physiol. 142, 199–202 (1981).
Hardie, R. C. in Progress in Sensory Physiology Vol. 5 (ed. Ottoson, D.) 1–79 (Springer, Berlin, 1985).
Arikawa, K., Inokuma, K. & Eguchi, E. Naturwissenschaften 74, 297–298 (1987).
Caldwell, R. L. & Dingle, H. Naturwissenschaften 62, 214–222 (1975).
Barlow, H. B. Vision Res. 22, 635–643 (1982).
Bowmaker, J. K. Trends neurosci. 6(2), 41–43 (1983).
Dingle, H. Crustaceana 7, 236–240 (1964).
Bernard, G. D. J. opt. Soc. Am. A4, 123 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cronin, T., Marshall, N. A retina with at least ten spectral types of photoreceptors in a mantis shrimp. Nature 339, 137–140 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/339137a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/339137a0
This article is cited by
-
Optic lobe organization in stomatopod crustacean species possessing different degrees of retinal complexity
Journal of Comparative Physiology A (2020)
-
Cerebral photoreception in mantis shrimp
Scientific Reports (2018)
-
Which way is up? Asymmetric spectral input along the dorsal–ventral axis influences postural responses in an amphibious annelid
Journal of Comparative Physiology A (2014)
-
Using phylogenetically-informed annotation (PIA) to search for light-interacting genes in transcriptomes from non-model organisms
BMC Bioinformatics (2014)
-
Scanning behavior by larvae of the predacious diving beetle, Thermonectus marmoratus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) enlarges visual field prior to prey capture
Journal of Comparative Physiology A (2007)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.