Summary
The winter flounder,Pseudopleuronectes americanus, is mildly hyperopic. However, chromatic aberration exists in significant amounts and therefore the eye may be emmetropic (zero refractive error) in natural conditions when light is restricted to shorter wavelengths. Large accommodative lens motion was observed along the direction of the pupil axis. This direction is rare among the teleosts and is the result of the unusual split origin of the retractor lentis muscle. While the lens is spherical, as in other teleosts, the retina is not uniformly distant from the lens. Rather, a vertical asymmetry exists such that dorsal and ventral portions of the retina are further from the lens than the central retina. In view of the existing large accommodative ability, this distortion of the globe is not likely to have an optical function but is probably due to the shape of the cartilagenous scleral cup supporting the eye in its extraorbital location. Further, the lens is overcorrected for spherical aberration so that rays passing through the periphery of the lens are focused further away. The value of a lens of this type is unclear.
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Sivak, J.G. Optical characteristics of the eye of the flounder. J. Comp. Physiol. 146, 345–349 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612704
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612704