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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 202, Issue 24 3631-3635, Copyright © 1999 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Daphnia pulex swims towards the most strongly polarized light - a response that leads to 'shore flight'

R Schwind
Institut fur Zoologie der Universitat Regensburg, Universitatsstrasse 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany. rudolf. schwind@biologie.uni-regensburg.de.

When Daphnia pulex are presented on one side of their visual field with diffuse, large-area linearly polarized light with a horizontal e-vector and on the other side of their visual field with large-area polarized light with a lower degree of polarization, they swim towards the place with the higher degree of polarization. The response is intensity-invariant: Daphnia pulex swim towards the place of maximal polarization regardless of which side of their visual field has the higher intensity of light. As a result of Rayleigh scattering in a pond, the light surrounding the Daphnia is polarized and has a horizontal e-vector. Near the shore, polarization is not homogeneous. The light seen in the direction of the open water has a higher degree of polarization than that seen in the direction towards the shore. Therefore, in a pond, swimming towards the place with the highest degree of polarization leads the Daphnia away from the shore. For Daphnia, this response explains a mechanism that underlies the well-known phenomenon of 'shore flight', the active departure of small pelagic crustaceans from shore zones.
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