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Adaptive visual metamorphosis in a deep-sea hydrothermal vent crab

Nature volume 420, pages 68–70 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridges host ephemeral ecosystems of diverse endemic fauna including several crustacean species1,2,3,4, some of which undergo planktonic development as larvae up to 1,000 m above and 100 km away from the vents5,6. Little is known about the role of vision in the life history of vent fauna. Here we report that planktonic zoea larvae of the vent crab Bythograea thermydron possess image-forming compound eyes with a visual pigment sensitive to the blue light of mesopelagic waters. As they metamorphose and begin to descend to and settle at the vents, they lose their image-forming optics and develop high-sensitivity naked-retina eyes. The spectral absorbance of the visual pigment in these eyes shifts towards longer wavelengths from larva to postlarva to adult. This progressive visual metamorphosis trades imaging for increased sensitivity, and changes spectral sensitivity from the blue wavelengths of the larval environment towards the dim, longer wavelengths7 produced in the deeper bathypelagic vent environment of the adults. As hydrothermal vents produce light7, vision may supplement thermal and chemical senses to orient postlarval settlement at vent sites.

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Figure 1: Ontogeny of the eye of B. thermydron.
Figure 2: Absorbance spectra for B. thermydron visual pigments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the captain and crew of the RV Atlantis, the DSV Alvin group, and members of the Epifanio laboratory for animal collection. We thank J. J. McDermott for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (A.I.D., C.E.E. and T.W.C.) and by Franklin and Marshall College.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17604-3003, USA

    Robert N. Jinks, Tara L. Markley & Elizabeth E. Taylor

  2. Graduate College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, Delaware, 19958, USA

    Gina Perovich, Ana I. Dittel & Charles E. Epifanio

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, 21250, USA

    Thomas W. Cronin

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  1. Robert N. Jinks
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Correspondence to Robert N. Jinks.

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Jinks, R., Markley, T., Taylor, E. et al. Adaptive visual metamorphosis in a deep-sea hydrothermal vent crab. Nature 420, 68–70 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01144

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