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Sensory adaptation

Tunable colour vision in a mantis shrimp

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Abstract

Systems of colour vision are normally identical in all members of a species, but a single design may not be adequate for species living in a diverse range of light environments. Here we show that in the mantis shrimp Haptosquilla trispinosa, which occupies a range of depths in the ocean, long-wavelength colour receptors are individually tuned to the local light environment. The spectral sensitivity of specific classes of photoreceptor is adjusted by filters that vary between individuals.

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Figure 1: Normalized, average absorption spectra (n = 2–9) of all filter classes in H. trispinosa retinae.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Thomas W. Cronin

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Roy L. Caldwell

  3. Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    Justin Marshall

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Cronin
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  2. Roy L. Caldwell
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  3. Justin Marshall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas W. Cronin.

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Cronin, T., Caldwell, R. & Marshall, J. Tunable colour vision in a mantis shrimp. Nature 411, 547–548 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35079184

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