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Journal of Experimental Biology 140,381-391 (1988)
Published by Company of Biologists 1988

The Functions of Eye and Body Movements in Labidocera and Other Copepods

MICHAEL F. LAND ¹

¹ School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK

Male Labidocera have three eyes derived from the nauplius eye. The dorsal pair have large lenses and are fused to give a single mobile eyecup containing a transverse row of 10 rhabdoms. This rhabdom row scans across 35° of the dorsal visual field at rates of up to 3Hz, and it is suggested that the scanning movements are concerned with the detection of conspecifics. In addition there are movements which enable the eyecups to track a source of light, and these are mediated by three other receptors in each eyecup. The tracking movements are closely linked to tail movements which tend to keep the animal's back directed towards the light. The total effect is to stabilize both body and eye direction against involuntary disturbance. Other pontellid copepods show similar visually controlled tail movements,but without the eye movements.

Key words: copepods, eye movements, vision, scanning

Accepted on April 28, 1988

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