Eye transcriptome of a caecilian species (Gymnophiona), a clade of fossorial amphibians.
Caecilians (Order Gymnophiona) are highly specialized fossorial amphibians with small eyes, often covered by skin and, in some taxa, by bone. For many years, it was assumed that caecilians had limited visual capabilities, possessing only one functional visual opsin gene and a single photoreceptor cell type, generally unable to form a focused image or discriminate colors. However, recent genomic data revealed the presence of the OPN1LW gene (red-sensitive opsin) in four caecilian species and similarly, other fossorial and cave-dwelling clades of vertebrates seemed to have retained LWS.This project presents the first eye transcriptome of a caecilian species, offering a valuable resource to explore how the transition to fossoriality has shaped the visual systems of animals and study the molecular adaptation to dark or dim-light environments.