Mineralized rods and cones suggest colour vision in a 300 Myr-old fossil fish

Gengo Tanaka (), Andrew R. Parker, Yoshikazu Hasegawa, David J. Siveter, Ryoichi Yamamoto, Kiyoshi Miyashita, Yuichi Takahashi, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Takao Mukuda, Marie Matsuura, Ko Tomikawa, Masumi Furutani, Kayo Suzuki and Haruyoshi Maeda
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Gengo Tanaka: Center for Marine Environment Studies, Kumamoto University
Andrew R. Parker: Natural History Museum
Yoshikazu Hasegawa: Gunma Museum of Natural History, Tomioka City
David J. Siveter: University of Leicester
Ryoichi Yamamoto: Gunma Industrial Technology Center
Kiyoshi Miyashita: Gunma Industrial Technology Center
Yuichi Takahashi: Gunma Industrial Technology Center
Shosuke Ito: Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences
Kazumasa Wakamatsu: Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences
Takao Mukuda: Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University
Marie Matsuura: Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University
Ko Tomikawa: Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University
Masumi Furutani: Central Research Laboratory, Okayama University Medical School
Kayo Suzuki: Research Center for Human and Environmental Sciences, Shinshu University
Haruyoshi Maeda: Kyushu University Museum

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Vision, which consists of an optical system, receptors and image-processing capacity, has existed for at least 520 Myr. Except for the optical system, as in the calcified lenses of trilobite and ostracod arthropods, other parts of the visual system are not usually preserved in the fossil record, because the soft tissue of the eye and the brain decay rapidly after death, such as within 64 days and 11 days, respectively. The Upper Carboniferous Hamilton Formation (300 Myr) in Kansas, USA, yields exceptionally well-preserved animal fossils in an estuarine depositional setting. Here we show that the original colour, shape and putative presence of eumelanin have been preserved in the acanthodii fish Acanthodes bridgei. We also report on the tissues of its eye, which provides the first record of mineralized rods and cones in a fossil and indicates that this 300 Myr-old fish likely possessed colour vision.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6920

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