spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hart, N. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hart, N. S.
The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 3925-3935 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Vision in the peafowl (Aves: Pavo cristatus)

Nathan S. Hart

Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

e-mail: n.hart{at}mailbox.uq.edu.au

Accepted 9 September 2002

The visual sense of the Indian blue-shouldered peafowl Pavo cristatus was investigated with respect to the spectral absorption characteristics of the retinal photoreceptors, the spectral transmittance of the ocular media and the topographic distribution of cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer. Microspectrophotometry revealed a single class of rod, four spectrally distinct types of single cone and a single class of double cone. In the case of the single cone types, which contained visual pigments with wavelengths of maximum absorbance ({lambda}max) at 424, 458, 505 and 567 nm, spectral filtering by the ocular media and the different cone oil droplets with which each visual pigment is associated gives predicted peak spectral sensitivities of 432, 477, 537 and 605 nm, respectively. Topographic analysis of retinal ganglion cell distribution revealed a large central area of increased cell density (at peak, 35,609 cells mm-2) with a poorly defined visual streak extending nasally. The peafowl has a calculated maximum spatial resolution (visual acuity) in the lateral visual field of 20.6 cycles degrees-1. These properties of the peafowl eye are discussed with respect to its visual ecology and are compared with those of other closely related species.

Key words: microspectrophotometry, colour vision, avian retina, visual pigment, cone oil droplet, photoreceptor, visual ecology, ganglion cell topography, ocular media, peafowl, Pavo cristatus




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
N. S. Hart, T. J. Lisney, and S. P. Collin
Cone photoreceptor oil droplet pigmentation is affected by ambient light intensity
J. Exp. Biol., December 1, 2006; 209(23): 4776 - 4787.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
J. M. Hemmi, J. Marshall, W. Pix, M. Vorobyev, and J. Zeil
The variable colours of the fiddler crab Uca vomeris and their relation to background and predation
J. Exp. Biol., October 15, 2006; 209(20): 4140 - 4153.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
N. S. Hart
Microspectrophotometry of visual pigments and oil droplets in a marine bird, the wedge-tailed shearwater Puffinus pacificus: topographic variations in photoreceptor spectral characteristics
J. Exp. Biol., March 1, 2004; 207(7): 1229 - 1240.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2002