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Spectral sensitivity of cones in an ungulate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Jay Neitz and
Gerald H. Jacobs
Jay Neitz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology
Gerald H. Jacobs
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
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Abstract

Ungulates have been classified as having arrhythmic eyes in the sense that they contain features appropriate both to diurnal and nocturnal life. The former is typically associated with multiple classes of cones and a color-vision capacity. To see if an arrhythmic animal has these features, the number of cone classes was determined and the spectra of these cones were measured in a common ungulate, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). Examination with electroretinogram (ERG) flicker photometry revealed the presence of two classes of cones in the pig's eye having average maximum sensitivity (λmax) at 439 nm and 556 nm, respectively. This ungulate thus has the requisite retinal basis for dichromatic color vision.

Keywords

UngulatePig (Sus scrofa)ConesSpectraElectroretinogram flicker photometryDichromacy

Information

Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , February 1989, pp. 97 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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