A detailed investigation of the visual system and visual ecology of the Barrier Reef anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos

Stieb, Sara M.; Busserolles, Fanny de; Carleton, Karen L.; Cortesi, Fabio; Chung, Wen-Sung; Dalton, Brian E.; Hammond, Luke A.; Marshall, N. Justin

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52297-0

Cited by 30 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(100 reference statements)

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“…However, this is not always the case. The Barrier Reef anemonefish Amphiprion akindynos has recently been shown to have a small area in the central temporal region with significant coexpression of SWS1 (UV) and SWS2B (violet) (Stieb et al, 2019). This region, which falls within the region of highest acuity, may be important for discriminating objects at close range.…”

Section: Opsin Expression and Co-expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the rainbow: mechanisms underlying spectral sensitivity in teleost fishes

Carleton

Escobar‐Camacho

Stieb

et al. 2020

Journal of Experimental Biology

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109

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Among vertebrates, teleost eye diversity exceeds that found in all other groups. Their spectral sensitivities range from ultraviolet to red, and the number of visual pigments varies from 1 to over 40. This variation is correlated with the different ecologies and life histories of fish species, including their variable aquatic habitats: murky lakes, clear oceans, deep seas and turbulent rivers. These ecotopes often change with the season, but fish may also migrate between ecotopes diurnally, seasonally or ontogenetically. To survive in these variable light habitats, fish visual systems have evolved a suite of mechanisms that modulate spectral sensitivities on a range of timescales. These mechanisms include: (1) optical media that filter light, (2) variations in photoreceptor type and size to vary absorbance and sensitivity, and (3) changes in photoreceptor visual pigments to optimize peak sensitivity. The visual pigment changes can result from changes in chromophore or changes to the opsin. Opsin variation results from changes in opsin sequence, opsin expression or co-expression, and opsin gene duplications and losses. Here, we review visual diversity in a number of teleost groups where the structural and molecular mechanisms underlying their spectral sensitivities have been relatively well determined. Although we document considerable variability, this alone does not imply functional difference per se. We therefore highlight the need for more studies that examine species with known sensitivity differences, emphasizing behavioral experiments to test whether such differences actually matter in the execution of visual tasks that are relevant to the fish.

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Section: Opsin Expression and Co-expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the rainbow: mechanisms underlying spectral sensitivity in teleost fishes

Carleton

Escobar‐Camacho

Stieb

et al. 2020

Journal of Experimental Biology

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109

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“…In situ hybridization studies (e.g. Dalton et al, 2014Dalton et al, , 2016Stieb et al, 2019;Torres-Dowdall et al, 2017) coupled with behavioural colour vision experiments (e.g. Cheney et al, 2019) will be needed in the future to assess the distribution and function of the various opsin genes and ultimately the colour vision system of N. brevirostris.…”

Section: Opsin Gene Evolution and Expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual system development of the spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris (Acanthuridae)

Tettamanti

Busserolles

Lecchini

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Ontogenetic changes of the visual system are often correlated with shifts in habitat and feeding behaviour of animals. Coral reef fishes begin their lives in the pelagic zone and then migrate to the reef. This habitat transition frequently involves a change in diet and light environment as well as major morphological modifications. The spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris, is known to shift diet from zooplankton to algae and back to mainly zooplankton when transitioning from larval to juvenile and then to adult stages. Concurrently, N. brevirostris also moves from an open pelagic to a coral-associated habitat before migrating up in the water column when reaching adulthood. Using retinal mapping techniques, we discovered that the distribution and density of ganglion and photoreceptor cells in N. brevirostris changes primarily during the transition from the larval to the juvenile stage, with only minor modifications thereafter. Similarly, visual gene (opsin) expression based on RNA sequencing, although qualitatively similar between stages (all fish mainly expressed the same three cone opsins; SWS2B, RH2B, RH2A), also showed the biggest quantitative difference when transitioning from larvae to juveniles. The juvenile stage in particular seems mismatched with its reef-associated ecology, which may be due to this stage only lasting a fraction of the lifespan of these fish. Hence, the visual ontogeny found in N. brevirostris is very different from the progressive changes found in other reef fishes, calling for a thorough analysis of visual system development of the reef fish community.

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“…Their large eyes (Schmitz and Wainwright 2011), short focal length (McFarland 1991), roddominated retina (this study), extremely high RH1 expression compared to other coral reef fishes [i.e. > 95% in holocentrids (this study) vs 50-70% in damselfishes , Stieb et al 2019) and diurnal apogonids (Luehrmann et al 2019)], and their rod spectral sensitivity tuned to their respective depth range (Toller 1996), indicate a visual system well-adapted to dim-light vision and a need for increased sensitivity. Therefore, multibank retinas in holocentrids are likely to contribute toward enhancing the overall light sensitivity of their eyes.…”

Section: The Holocentrid Multibank Retinamentioning

confidence: 64%

The visual ecology of Holocentridae, a nocturnal coral reef fish family with a deep-sea-like multibank retina

Busserolles

Cortesi

Fogg

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The visual systems of teleost fishes usually match their habitats and lifestyles. Since coral reefs are bright and colourful environments, the visual systems of their diurnal inhabitants have been more extensively studied than those of nocturnal species. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a detailed investigation of the visual systems of the coral reef fish family Holocentridae (squirrelfish and soldierfish). In addition to their nocturnality, this family is particularly interesting for dim-light vision studies due to its ecological and evolutionary connection to deeper habitats. Results showed that the visual system of holocentrids is well adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle with a rod-dominated retina.Surprisingly, rods in all species were arranged into 6-17 well-defined banks, a feature most commonly found in deep-sea fishes, that may increase the light sensitivity of the eye and/or allow colour discrimination in dim-light. Holocentrids also have the potential for dichromatic colour vision during the day with the presence of at least two spectrally different cone types: single cones expressing the bluesensitive SWS2A gene, and double cones expressing one or two green-sensitive RH2 genes. Some differences were observed between the two subfamilies, with Holocentrinae having a slightly more developed photopic visual system than Myripristinae. Moreover, retinal topography of both ganglion cells and cone photoreceptors showed specific patterns for each cell type, likely highlighting different visual demands at different times of the day, such as feeding. Overall, their well-developed scotopic visual systems and the ease of catching and maintaining holocentrids in aquaria, make them ideal models to investigate teleost dim-light vision and more particularly shed light on the function of multibank retina and its potential for dim-light colour vision.

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A detailed investigation of the visual system and visual ecology of the Barrier Reef anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos

Cited by 30 publications

References 75 publications

Seeing the rainbow: mechanisms underlying spectral sensitivity in teleost fishes

Seeing the rainbow: mechanisms underlying spectral sensitivity in teleost fishes

Visual system development of the spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris (Acanthuridae)

The visual ecology of Holocentridae, a nocturnal coral reef fish family with a deep-sea-like multibank retina

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