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Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish

Active sensing has been well documented in animals that use echolocation and electrolocation. Active photolocation, or active sensing using light, has received much less attention, and only in bioluminescent nocturnal species. However, evidence has suggested the diurnal triplefin Tripterygion delais...

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Autores principales: Bitton, Pierre-Paul, Yun Christmann, Sebastian Alejandro, Santon, Matteo, Harant, Ulrike K., Michiels, Nico K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6542814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31147614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44529-0
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author Bitton, Pierre-Paul
Yun Christmann, Sebastian Alejandro
Santon, Matteo
Harant, Ulrike K.
Michiels, Nico K.
author_facet Bitton, Pierre-Paul
Yun Christmann, Sebastian Alejandro
Santon, Matteo
Harant, Ulrike K.
Michiels, Nico K.
author_sort Bitton, Pierre-Paul
collection PubMed
description Active sensing has been well documented in animals that use echolocation and electrolocation. Active photolocation, or active sensing using light, has received much less attention, and only in bioluminescent nocturnal species. However, evidence has suggested the diurnal triplefin Tripterygion delaisi uses controlled iris radiance, termed ocular sparks, for prey detection. While this form of diurnal active photolocation was behaviourally described, a study exploring the physical process would provide compelling support for this mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which diurnal active photolocation could assist T. delaisi in detecting potential prey. In the field, we sampled gammarids (genus Cheirocratus) and characterized the spectral properties of their eyes, which possess strong directional reflectors. In the laboratory, we quantified ocular sparks size and their angle-dependent radiance. Combined with environmental light measurements and known properties of the visual system of T. delaisi, we modeled diurnal active photolocation under various scenarios. Our results corroborate that diurnal active photolocation should help T. delaisi detect gammarids at distances relevant to foraging, 4.5 cm under favourable conditions and up to 2.5 cm under average conditions. To determine the prevalence of diurnal active photolocation for micro-prey, we encourage further theoretical and empirical work.
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spelling pubmed-65428142019-06-07 Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish Bitton, Pierre-Paul Yun Christmann, Sebastian Alejandro Santon, Matteo Harant, Ulrike K. Michiels, Nico K. Sci Rep Article Active sensing has been well documented in animals that use echolocation and electrolocation. Active photolocation, or active sensing using light, has received much less attention, and only in bioluminescent nocturnal species. However, evidence has suggested the diurnal triplefin Tripterygion delaisi uses controlled iris radiance, termed ocular sparks, for prey detection. While this form of diurnal active photolocation was behaviourally described, a study exploring the physical process would provide compelling support for this mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which diurnal active photolocation could assist T. delaisi in detecting potential prey. In the field, we sampled gammarids (genus Cheirocratus) and characterized the spectral properties of their eyes, which possess strong directional reflectors. In the laboratory, we quantified ocular sparks size and their angle-dependent radiance. Combined with environmental light measurements and known properties of the visual system of T. delaisi, we modeled diurnal active photolocation under various scenarios. Our results corroborate that diurnal active photolocation should help T. delaisi detect gammarids at distances relevant to foraging, 4.5 cm under favourable conditions and up to 2.5 cm under average conditions. To determine the prevalence of diurnal active photolocation for micro-prey, we encourage further theoretical and empirical work. Nature Publishing Group UK 2019-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC6542814/ /pubmed/31147614 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44529-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Bitton, Pierre-Paul
Yun Christmann, Sebastian Alejandro
Santon, Matteo
Harant, Ulrike K.
Michiels, Nico K.
Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title_full Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title_fullStr Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title_full_unstemmed Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title_short Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
title_sort visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6542814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31147614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44529-0
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