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Spectral sensitivity and visual pigment of the compound eye of the galatheid crab Pleuroncodes planipes

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Abstract

The compound eye of the galatheid crab Pleuroncodes planipes has been studied by means of visual pigment extractions and spectral sensitivity measurements under various conditions of adaptation. A photosensitive pigment with maximum absorption at 503 nm was identified. Its chromophore is retinal. The spectral sensitivity maximum is near 523 nm in the dark-adapted eye. Selective adaptation experiments suggest that the apical region of the eye has a homogeneous receptor population. The spectral sensitivity characteristics of P. planipes seem to be an adaptation to its mainly benthic life.

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  1. H. R. Fernandez

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences and Allan Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

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    1. H. R. Fernandez
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    Communicated by J. Bunt, Miami

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    Fernandez, H.R. Spectral sensitivity and visual pigment of the compound eye of the galatheid crab Pleuroncodes planipes . Marine Biology 20, 148–153 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00351453

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