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Pupil dilation and visual field in the piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias

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Abstract

The relatively large eye and pupil of the Piked Dogfish, Squalus acanthias, is visually arresting. However, knowledge of its basic visual characteristics lags far behind other areas in this generally well studied species. This study quantifies pupil dilation in a species that is naturally exposed to a broad range of light intensities and finds that the pupil area in the dark adapted state is 35.3% of the total eye area, an increase of 12.4% from the light adapted state. The anterior and posterior extents of the horizontal visual field are assessed and compared with both morphological and electrophysiological techniques and the results are integrated with the measured head yaw to derive the anterior convergence distance and blind area. The position of the eyes and the triangular, pointed snout of S. acanthias provides excellent anterior vision, which likely facilitates foraging upon its mobile prey.

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted at the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory through a Salisbury Cove Fund new investigator award with additional support from the Florida Atlantic University Department of Biological Sciences and the National Science Foundation (IOS-0639949). I am grateful to C. Wray, M. Bailey and S. Tallack for assistance at MDIBL and to the members of the FAU Elasmobranch Research Laboratory for logistical support.

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  1. Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Stephen M. Kajiura

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  1. Stephen M. Kajiura
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Correspondence to Stephen M. Kajiura.

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Kajiura, S.M. Pupil dilation and visual field in the piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias . Environ Biol Fish 88, 133–141 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9623-z

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