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The Adaptation of Visual Pigments to the Photic Environment

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Photochemistry of Vision

Part of the book series: Handbook of Sensory Physiology ((1536,volume 7 / 1))

Abstract

In 1936 Clarke wrote: “These results [clear ocean water selectively transmits blue light] raise the question of the possibility of a shift in sensitivity of the eyes of a deep water fish towards the blue end of the spectrum.” This prediction must be one of the most accurate in biology, for twenty-one years later Denton and Warren (1957) and Munz (1957) published papers showing that bathypelagic fishes did indeed possess large quantities of visual pigments with λmax located in the blue region of the spectrum.

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  1. Falmer, Brighton, UK

    John N. Lythgoe

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Herbert J. A. Dartnall

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Lythgoe, J.N. (1972). The Adaptation of Visual Pigments to the Photic Environment. In: Dartnall, H.J.A. (eds) Photochemistry of Vision. Handbook of Sensory Physiology, vol 7 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65066-6_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65066-6_14

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