Dynamic polarization vision in mantis shrimps

Ilse M. Daly, Martin J. How, Julian C. Partridge, Shelby E. Temple, N. Justin Marshall, Thomas W. Cronin and Nicholas W. Roberts ()
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Ilse M. Daly: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
Martin J. How: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
Julian C. Partridge: School of Animal Biology and the Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia
Shelby E. Temple: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
N. Justin Marshall: Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland
Thomas W. Cronin: University of Maryland Baltimore County
Nicholas W. Roberts: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Gaze stabilization is an almost ubiquitous animal behaviour, one that is required to see the world clearly and without blur. Stomatopods, however, only fix their eyes on scenes or objects of interest occasionally. Almost uniquely among animals they explore their visual environment with a series pitch, yaw and torsional (roll) rotations of their eyes, where each eye may also move largely independently of the other. In this work, we demonstrate that the torsional rotations are used to actively enhance their ability to see the polarization of light. Both Gonodactylus smithii and Odontodactylus scyllarus rotate their eyes to align particular photoreceptors relative to the angle of polarization of a linearly polarized visual stimulus, thereby maximizing the polarization contrast between an object of interest and its background. This is the first documented example of any animal displaying dynamic polarization vision, in which the polarization information is actively maximized through rotational eye movements.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12140

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