Summary
Physiological findings indicate that the lizards parietal eye is a functional photoreceptor displaying a complicated pattern of slow (graded) responses during adaptational changes and opposite patterns of impulse activity in response to blue and green light. In addition to the parietal eye a pineal organ (epiphysis cerebri) is present in lizards, ultrastructurally consisting of some essentially normal and of many decomposed and degenerated outer segments. Recording by stainless steel needles inserted into theepiphysis cerebri ofLacerta sicula campestris, Acanthodactylus erythrurus andIguana iguana after removal of the parietal eye revealed photic responses differing from those of the parietal eye by being purely inhibitory in response to all light stimuli and showing an absolute intensity threshold within the photopic range (4 lm/m2) and maximum sensitivity at about 600 nm. After allowance is made for the vascular filter effect of blood in front of the epiphysis a shift of maximum sensitivity is obtained to shorter wavelengths indicating the presence of a similar photopigment in the photoreceptors of theepiphysis cerebri as in the lateral eye (λ max 570 nm).
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Hamasaki, D.I., Dodt, E. Light sensitivity of the Lizard'sEpiphysis Cerebri . Pflugers Arch. 313, 19–29 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586325
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586325