Long-wave sensitivity in the masked greenling (Hexagrammos octogrammus), a shallow-water marine fish.
Microspectrophotometry (MSP) revealed that surprisingly for a "fully marine" species, in summer, photoreceptors of the nearshore scorpaeniform fish known as the masked greenling, Hexagrammos octogrammus, contained exclusively, or presumably, porphyropsin with a small admixture of rhodopsin. As a result of this, the lambda(max) of the spectral sensitivity of the photoreceptors were significantly shifted to longer wavelengths as compared to the lambda(max) typical of marine shallow-water fishes, showing about 530 nm for rods and single cones, and 570/625 nm for double-cone members. These unique spectral shifts would permit a cone-driven wavelength discrimination in spite of high-density orange corneal filters which block light at lower wavelengths.
Kondrashev
Sergei L
SL
Laboratory of Physiology, A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 17 Palchevskogo Street, Vladivostok 690041, Russia. slk49@mail.ru
D000221:Adaptation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D015591:Microspectrophotometry / Q000379:methods; D010858:Pigmentation; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000737:chemistry; D012168:Retinal Pigments / Q000032:analysis*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000737:chemistry; D012623:Seawater
D012168:Retinal Pigments; C010507:porphyropsin