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The eyes of mesopelagic crustaceans: I. Gennadas sp. (Penaeidae)

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Summary

The eye of the deep-sea penaeid shrimp Gennadas consists of approximately 700 square ommatidia with a side length of 15 μn. It is hemispherical in shape and is located at the end of a 1.5 mm long eye stalk. The cornea is extremely thin, but the crystalline cone is well-developed. A clear zone between dioptric structures and the rhabdom layer is absent. A few pigment granules are found within the basement membrane; otherwise they, too, are absent from the eye of Gennadas. The rhabdom is massive and occupies 50 % of the eye. It consists of orthogonally oriented microvilli (the latter measuring 0.07 μm in diameter) and is 75 μm long. In cross sections adjacent rhabdoms, all approximately 8 μm in diameter, form an almost continuous sheet and leave little space for retinula cell cytoplasm. In spite of a one h exposure to light, rhabdom microvilli show no disintegration or disruption of membranes. Vesicles of various kinds, however, are present in all seven retinula cells near the basement membrane. Bundles of seven axons penetrate the basement membrane. On their way to the lamina they often combine and form larger aggregations.

Zusammenfassung

Das aus ca. 700 Ommatidien zusammengesetzte, halbkugelförmige Auge der Tiefseegarnele Gennadas sp. sitzt am Ende eines etwa 1,2 mm langen Stiels. Die Cornea ist zwar außerordentlich dünn, doch der Kristallkegel ist gut entwickelt. Es fehlt eine klare pigmentfreie Zone zwischen dioptrischem Apparat und Rhabdom. Vereinzelte Pigmentkörner werden lediglich innerhalb der Basallamina angetroffen. Das Rhabdom ist massiv und nimmt rund 50 % des Augenvolumens ein. Es besteht aus rechtwinklig angeordneten Mikrovilli, die einen Durchmesser von 72 nm aufweisen. Querschnitte zeigen die dichte Packung der Rhabdome. Interrhabdomale Lüken für Retinula-Zellplasma sind kaum vorhanden. Nach einer einstündigen Helladaptation wurden keine Feinstrukturveränderungen an den Mikrovilli beobachtet. In allen Retinulazellen traten jedoch in der Nähe der Basallamina Vesikel verschiedenster Art auf. Die sieben Axone eines Ommatidiums verlassen das Auge als gemeinsames Bündel, doch unterhalb der Basallamina vereinigen sich oft mehrere Bündel zu größeren Einheiten.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    V. Benno Meyer-Rochow & Steve Walsh

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  1. V. Benno Meyer-Rochow
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  2. Steve Walsh
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Additional information

This study was begun during the 1975 “Alpha Helix” South East Asia Bioluminescence Expedition to the South Moluccan Islands

The authors wish to thank the director of the Meat Industry Research Institute in Hamilton and his staff for the use of their electron microscope facilities

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Meyer-Rochow, V.B., Walsh, S. The eyes of mesopelagic crustaceans: I. Gennadas sp. (Penaeidae). Cell Tissue Res. 184, 87–101 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00220529

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