Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:54:16.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The visual fields of American horseshoe crabs: Two different eye shapes in Limulus polyphemus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

William W. Weiner  and
Steven C. Chamberlain
William W. Weiner
Affiliation:
Institute for Sensory Research, and Department of Bioengineering and Neuroscience, Syracuse University, Syracuse
Steven C. Chamberlain
Affiliation:
Institute for Sensory Research, and Department of Bioengineering and Neuroscience, Syracuse University, Syracuse
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The optical alignment of individual cuticular cones in the dioptric array of the lateral eye of Limulus polyphemus was determined with a precision two-circle goniometer constructed and mounted to the stage of a compound microscope and using a new formaldehyde-induced fluorescence procedure. All measurements were made from the corneal surface of the excised eye mounted in seawater through an air/water interface perpendicular to the optic axis of the microscope. Our results revealed two variants of visual field and eye curvature which can actually be discriminated in casual examination of adult animals. We call animals possessing these two variants “morlocks” and “eloi.” Adult male and female morlocks about 25 cm across the carapace have eyes which are relatively elongated, often darker in pigmentation, smaller, and relatively flatter in curvature. Morlocks have a monocular field of view of about 3.13 steradians or 50% of a hemisphere. The coverage averages 115 deg along the vertical axis and 168 deg along the horizontal axis of the eye, with maximum resolution in the anteroventral quadrant. Adult male and female eloi of comparable size have eyes which are relatively more round, often lighter in pigmentation, larger with more ommatidia, and relatively more bulged. Eloi have a monocular field of view of approximately 3.83 steradians or 61% of a hemisphere that covers 145 deg vertically and 185 deg horizontally. Eloi have more uniform resolution than morlocks with best resolution in the posteroventral quadrant. All horseshoe crabs examined, whether morlocks or eloi, have an identical orientation of the margin of the eye relative to the animals’ coordinates.

Keywords

LimulusVisual fieldDioptric arraySpatial resolutionOmmatidia
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , March 1994 , pp. 333 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Badgerow, J.P. & Sydlik, M.A. (1989). Nest site selection in orseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) using a Cape Cod beach. American Zoologist 29, A36.Google Scholar
Barlow, R.B. Jr (1969). Inhibitory fields in the Limulus lateral eye. Journal of General Physiology 54, 383–396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barlow, R.B. Jr (1983). Circadian rhythms in the Limulus visual system. Journal of Neuroscience, 3, 856–870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barlow, R.B. Jr, Ireland, L.C. & Kass, L. (1982). Vision has a role in Limulus mating behavior. Nature 296, 65–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botton, M.L. & Loveland, R.E. (1992). Body size, morphological constraints, and mated pair formation in 4 populations of horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) along a geographical cline. Marine Biology 112, 409–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brockmann, H.J. (1990). Mating behavior of horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus. Behavior 114, 206–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, S.C. & Barlow, R.B. Jr (1980). Neuroanatomy of the visual afferents in the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). Journal of Comparative Neurology 192, 387–400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chamberlain, S.C. & Barlow, R.B. Jr (1982). Retinotopic organization of lateral eye input to the Limulus brain. Journal of Neurophysiology 48, 505–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, S.C. & Barlow, R.B. Jr (1984). Transient membrane shedding in Limulus photoreceptors: Control mechanisms under natural lighting. Journal of Neuroscience 4, 2792–2810.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chamberlain, S.C. & Barlow, R.B. Jr (1987). Control of structural rhythms in the lateral eye of Limulus: Interactions of natural lighting and circadian efferent activity. Journal of Neuroscience 7, 2135–2144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, F.A. & Kaplan, E. (1975). Visual fields in the Limulus eye. Biophysical Journal 15, 172a.Google Scholar
Fahrenbach, W.H. (1969). The morphology of the eyes of Limulus. II. Ommatidia of the compound eye. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 93, 451–483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fahrenbach, W.H. (1975). The visual system of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. International Review of Cytology 41, 285–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
French, A.S., Snyder, A. & Stavenga, D.G. (1977). Image degradation by an irregular retinal mosaic. Biological Cybernetics 27, 229–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartline, H.K. & Ratliff, F. (1972). Inhibitory interaction in the retina of Limulus. In Handbook of Sensory Physiology, Vol. VII/2, ed. Fuortes, M.G.F., pp. 381–447. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Herzog, E.D. & Barlow, R.B. Jr (1992). The Limulus-eye view of the world. Visual Neuroscience 9, 571–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horridge, G.A. (1977). The compound eye of insects. Scientific American 237, 108–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jinks, R.N., Hanna, W. J. B., Renninger, G.H. & Chamberlain, S.C. (1993). Photoreceptor cells dissociated from the compound lateral eye of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. I. Structure and ultrastructure. Visual Neuroscience 10, 597–607.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kier, C.K. & Chamberlain, S.C. (1990). Dual controls for screening pigment movement in photoreceptors of the Limulus lateral eye: Circadian efferent input and light. Visual Neuroscience 4, 237–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kier, K.A., Weiner, W.W., Dossert, W.P. & Chamberlain, S.C. (1993). Horseshoe crabs from Woods Hole, MA and Panacea, FL see the world differently. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (SuppL.) 34, 2331.Google Scholar
Kirschfeld, K. & Reichardt, W. (1964). Die Verabeitung stationärer optischer Nachrichten im Komplauge von Limulus (Ommatidien-Sehfeld und räumliche Vereilung der Inhibition). Kybernetik 2, 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, M.F. (1989). Variations in the structure and design of compound eyes. In Facets of Vision, ed. Stavenga, D.G. & Hardie, R.C., pp. 90–111. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, M.K., Barlow, R.B. Jr. & Kass, L. (1991). Visual performance of horseshoe crabs day and night. Visual Neuroscience 7, 179–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sokoloff, A. (1978). Observations on populations of the horseshoe crab Limulus (=Xiphosura)polyphemus. Research in Population Ecology 19, 222–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solessio, E., Prakash, R. & Barlow, R.B. Jr. (1989). Modeling the Limulus lateral eye on a parallel computer. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 30, 66.Google Scholar
Snyder, A.W., Stavenga, D.G. & Laughlin, S.B. (1977). Spatial information capacity of compound eyes. Journal of Comparative Physiology 116, 183–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sydlik, M.A., DePonceau, J.L., Kier, K.A., Weiner, W.W. & Chamberlain, S.C. (1992). Changes in retinal array properties during development of young horseshoe crabs. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 33, 1835.Google Scholar
Waterman, T.H. (1954). Relative growth and the compound eye in Xiphosura. Journal of Morphology 54, 125–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, W.W. & Chamberlain, S.C. (1991). Morphological properties of the Limulus ommatidial array: Dioptrics and photoreceptors. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 32, 1128.Google Scholar
Wells, H.G. (1895). The Time Machine (1991 Bantam Classic Reissue), (115 pp.) New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar