Like most vertebrates, the eye of a fish has a cornea (outer covering), an iris (aperture for light
passage), a lens (to focus the image), a retina (receives the image from the lens), and an optic
nerve (transmits the image to the brain). One difference between a fish eye and most other
vertebrates is a fish can change the focus of the lens by changing the distance between the lens
and the retina; other vertebrates (including humans) focus by altering the shape of the lens. Fish
can focus their eye just like a camera. Also, the iris of most fish lacks muscles and is fixed in
shape—they cannot control the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the iris.
Sharks and rays do have movable irises and are the exception.
The retina contains special receptor cells called rods and cones. Rods are more light-sensitive
than cones, but only respond to black and white. Cones respond to color and produce more
detailed images than rods, but are only about one-thirtieth as sensitive to light as rods. Rods
“see” light, while cones provide color and detail. Like us, fish cannot see color at night, or other
low-light conditions.
A fish’s eye is adapted to better see movement and contrast at the expense of detail. The cones in
a human eye are densely packed around the retina, allowing for better detail. The cones in a
fish’s eye are distributed throughout, which provides better detection of movement and contrast,
but with lesser detail.
In daylight, the rods contract and the cones expand. Pigment granules move toward and around
the rods to shield them from light. At night, the pigment is drawn back to expose the rods, and
they expand to become exposed to more light. This process takes about an hour, and most
predatory fish are able to adapt faster than their prey. This is probably the reason many predatory
fish feed most actively at sunrise and sunset—their eyes can adapt to changing light faster than
their prey, giving them a distinct visual advantage.
Color vision requires different types of cone cells to detect each of the three primary colors, and
most fish possess at least two while some have all three. In general, fish can see farther into the
violet range than humans, and some can see into the ultraviolet range.
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have used electroretinography to better
understand how fishes see color. This method exposes a range of colors to an anesthetized fish,
and uses electrodes to measure which colors elicits a response in the retina. The article can be
found here. This figure (from http://www.vims.edu/newsmedia/press_release/fish_vision.htm)
shows the color range for each species, with the thicker black bar depicting the peak response.
Except for striped bass, none of these species can see red, while weakfish can see far into the
ultraviolet range. Spotted seatrout and red drum can see a range from violet to orange, with a
Like most vertebrates, the eye of a fish has a cornea (outer covering), an iris (aperture for light passage), a lens (to focus the image), a retina (receives the image from the lens), and an optic nerve (transmits the image to the brain). One difference between a fish eye and most other vertebrates is a fish can change the focus of the lens by changing the distance between the lens and the retina; other vertebrates (including humans) focus by altering the shape of the lens. Fish can focus their eye just like a camera. Also, the iris of most fish lacks muscles and is fixed in shape—they cannot control the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the iris. Sharks and rays do have movable irises and are the exception. The retina contains special receptor cells called rods and cones. Rods are more light-sensitive than cones, but only respond to black and white. Cones respond to color and produce more detailed images than rods, but are only about one-thirtieth as sensitive to light as rods. Rods “see” light, while cones provide color and detail. Like us, fish cannot see color at night, or other low-light conditions. A fish’s eye is adapted to better see movement and contrast at the expense of detail. The cones in a human eye are densely packed around the retina, allowing for better detail. The cones in a fish’s eye are distributed throughout, which provides better detection of movement and contrast, but with lesser detail. In daylight, the rods contract and the cones expand. Pigment granules move toward and around the rods to shield them from light. At night, the pigment is drawn back to expose the rods, and they expand to become exposed to more light. This process takes about an hour, and most predatory fish are able to adapt faster than their prey. This is probably the reason many predatory fish feed most actively at sunrise and sunset—their eyes can adapt to changing light faster than their prey, giving them a distinct visual advantage. Color vision requires different types of cone cells to detect each of the three primary colors, and most fish possess at least two while some have all three. In general, fish can see farther into the violet range than humans, and some can see into the ultraviolet range. Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have used electroretinography to better understand how fishes see color. This method exposes a range of colors to an anesthetized fish, and uses electrodes to measure which colors elicits a response in the retina. The article can be found here. This figure (from http://www.vims.edu/newsmedia/press_release/fish_vision.htm) shows the color range for each species, with the thicker black bar depicting the peak response. Except for striped bass, none of these species can see red, while weakfish can see far into the ultraviolet range. Spotted seatrout and red drum can see a range from violet to orange, with a
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