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  • Title: A different form of color vision in mantis shrimp.
    Author: Thoen HH, How MJ, Chiou TH, Marshall J.
    Journal: Science; 2014 Jan 24; 343(6169):411-3. PubMed ID: 24458639.
    Abstract:
    One of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom can be found in species of stomatopod crustaceans (mantis shrimp), some of which have 12 different photoreceptor types, each sampling a narrow set of wavelengths ranging from deep ultraviolet to far red (300 to 720 nanometers). Functionally, this chromatic complexity has presented a mystery. Why use 12 color channels when three or four are sufficient for fine color discrimination? Behavioral wavelength discrimination tests (Δλ functions) in stomatopods revealed a surprisingly poor performance, ruling out color vision that makes use of the conventional color-opponent coding system. Instead, our experiments suggest that stomatopods use a previously unknown color vision system based on temporal signaling combined with scanning eye movements, enabling a type of color recognition rather than discrimination.
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