Cargando…

The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas

All species within the conch snail family Strombidae possess large camera-type eyes that are surprisingly well-developed compared with those found in most other gastropods. Although these eyes are known to be structurally complex, very little research on their visual function has been conducted. Her...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Irwin, Alison R., Williams, Suzanne T., Speiser, Daniel I., Roberts, Nicholas W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Company of Biologists Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9482149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35796292
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243927
_version_ 1784791388563439616
author Irwin, Alison R.
Williams, Suzanne T.
Speiser, Daniel I.
Roberts, Nicholas W.
author_facet Irwin, Alison R.
Williams, Suzanne T.
Speiser, Daniel I.
Roberts, Nicholas W.
author_sort Irwin, Alison R.
collection PubMed
description All species within the conch snail family Strombidae possess large camera-type eyes that are surprisingly well-developed compared with those found in most other gastropods. Although these eyes are known to be structurally complex, very little research on their visual function has been conducted. Here, we use isoluminant expanding visual stimuli to measure the spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity of a strombid, Conomurex luhuanus. Using these stimuli, we show that this species responds to objects as small as 1.06 deg in its visual field. We also show that C. luhuanus responds to Michelson contrasts of 0.07, a low contrast sensitivity between object and background. The defensive withdrawal response elicited by visual stimuli of such small angular size and low contrast suggests that conch snails may use spatial vision for the early detection of potential predators. We support these findings with morphological estimations of spatial resolution of 1.04 deg. These anatomical data therefore agree with the behavioural measures and highlight the benefits of integrating behavioural and morphological approaches in animal vision studies. Using contemporary imaging techniques [serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM), in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy (TEM)], we found that C. luhuanus have more complex retinas, in terms of cell type diversity, than expected based on previous studies of the group using TEM alone. We find the C. luhuanus retina comprises six cell types, including a newly identified ganglion cell and accessory photoreceptor, rather than the previously described four cell types.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9482149
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher The Company of Biologists Ltd
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-94821492022-10-25 The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas Irwin, Alison R. Williams, Suzanne T. Speiser, Daniel I. Roberts, Nicholas W. J Exp Biol Research Article All species within the conch snail family Strombidae possess large camera-type eyes that are surprisingly well-developed compared with those found in most other gastropods. Although these eyes are known to be structurally complex, very little research on their visual function has been conducted. Here, we use isoluminant expanding visual stimuli to measure the spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity of a strombid, Conomurex luhuanus. Using these stimuli, we show that this species responds to objects as small as 1.06 deg in its visual field. We also show that C. luhuanus responds to Michelson contrasts of 0.07, a low contrast sensitivity between object and background. The defensive withdrawal response elicited by visual stimuli of such small angular size and low contrast suggests that conch snails may use spatial vision for the early detection of potential predators. We support these findings with morphological estimations of spatial resolution of 1.04 deg. These anatomical data therefore agree with the behavioural measures and highlight the benefits of integrating behavioural and morphological approaches in animal vision studies. Using contemporary imaging techniques [serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM), in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy (TEM)], we found that C. luhuanus have more complex retinas, in terms of cell type diversity, than expected based on previous studies of the group using TEM alone. We find the C. luhuanus retina comprises six cell types, including a newly identified ganglion cell and accessory photoreceptor, rather than the previously described four cell types. The Company of Biologists Ltd 2022-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9482149/ /pubmed/35796292 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243927 Text en © 2022. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Research Article
Irwin, Alison R.
Williams, Suzanne T.
Speiser, Daniel I.
Roberts, Nicholas W.
The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title_full The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title_fullStr The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title_full_unstemmed The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title_short The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
title_sort marine gastropod conomurex luhuanus (strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9482149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35796292
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243927
work_keys_str_mv AT irwinalisonr themarinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT williamssuzannet themarinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT speiserdanieli themarinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT robertsnicholasw themarinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT irwinalisonr marinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT williamssuzannet marinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT speiserdanieli marinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas
AT robertsnicholasw marinegastropodconomurexluhuanusstrombidaehashighresolutionspatialvisionandeyeswithcomplexretinas