Vision in Fishes

No more than a fish loves water. - Is not this a strange fellow, my lord, that so confidently seems to undertake this business, which he knows is not to be done; damns himself to do, and dares better be damn'd than to dolt? All's Well That Ends Well Act III, Sc. 6 This volume is the direct result of a NATO-Advanced Study Institute of the same title. held at Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada, August 1974, under the joint sponsor ship of the NATO-Scientific Advisory Committee, National Research Council of Canada and the Universite de Montreal. It is not, however, strictly restricted to the lectures and seminars pre sented at the ASI. Contributions have been included from two workers who found at a fairly late stage that they could not attend and also included are a table giving the visual pigments and an other dealing with the distribution and development of retinomotor responses. I encouraged the authors to prepare speculative reviews highlighting their own research or that of their immediate col leagues and a number of them have done so. Several contributors, notably those who were asked to give lectures of a general nature at the ASI have written reviews of somewhat greater scope. The result is a collection of papers representing a great variety of approaches to the study of vision in fishes.

Inhalt

1. Photochemistry.- Photochemical Efficiency of Chromoproteins: Role of the Molecular Environment.- Photophysical Processes in Visual Pigments.- Monolayer Studies of Visual Pigments.- Marquage par Spin des Membranes de Bâtonnets.- Microspectrophotometry: The Technique and Some of Its Pitfalls.- Linear Dichroism of Rods and Cones.- 2. Electeophysiology.- Microelectrode Study of the Physiology of Neurons in the Fish Retina.- Structural Studies of Functional Pathways in Goldfish Retina.- A Model for the Ganglionic Receptive Field Organisation.- Giant Retinal Ganglion Cells in Dogfish (Mustelus): Electrophysiology of Single On-Centre Units.- Central Projections of the Retina and Vision.- Réponses Visuelles Unitaires Chez la Truite.- Electrophysiological Analysis of Retino-Tectal Synapses in Teleosts.- Retinotectal Specificity in Adult Goldfish.- Cytoarchitecture and Connexions of the Teleostean Optic Tectum.- Electroretinography as a Tool for Studying Fish Vision.- 3. Neurotransmitters.- Methods of Research for Neurotransmitter Substances: General Introduction.- Methods to Investigate the Function of Certain Amino Acids in the CNS.- The Microiontophoretic Approach.- Methods of Study for Biogenic Amines.- High Resolution Radioautography of Noradrenergic Axon Terminals in the Neocortex.- Chemical Neurotransmission in the Retina of the Teleost Eugerres Plumieri.- The Retina as a Model of the Brain.- 4. Optical and Mechanical Aspects.- The Structure and Phylogeny of Iridescent Corneas in Fishes.- The Iridescent Cornea of the Sand Goby Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas).- Refractive State, Accommodation, and Resolving Power of the Fish Eye.- Accommodative Mechanisms in Aquatic Vertebrates.- Tapeta Lucida and the Organisation of Visual Cells in Teleosts.- TheoreticalConsiderations about Tapeta Lucida.- Retinomotor Responses.- Approaches to the Study of Contractility in the Rods and Cones.- Distribution and Development of Retinomotor Responses.- Horizontal Eye Movements in Fish.- 5. Comparative and Developmental Aspects.- Development of the Optic Tectum in Brown Trout.- Genetic Paths Leading to Blindness in Astyanax Mexicanus.- The Eyes of Larval Fish.- Extraretinal Photosensitivity in Fish Larvae.- Retinal Growth in Adult Goldfish.- A Unique Lactate Dehydrogenase Isozyme in the Teleost Retina.- Landolt's Club in Some Primitive Fishes.- Visual Pigments: Phylogeny and Ecology.- Comparative Analysis of the Patterns of Receptor and Horizontal Cells in Teleost Fishes.- Duplex Vision in the Elasmobranchs: Histological, Electrophysiological and Psychophysical Evidence.- 6. Environmental Aspects.- Assessing the Fitness of Visual Pigments for Their Photic Environments.- Visual Pigments and the Environment.- Studies on the Eyes of Fishes: Structure and Ultrastructure.- Retinal Specialisations for Aquatic Vision: Theory and Facts.- Problems of Seeing Colours under water.- Rhodopsin Porphyropsin Changes in Paired-Pigment Fishes.- Some Problems of Deep-Sea Fish Eyes.- Prospects in the Study of Interrelationships between Vision and Bioluminescence.- The Role of the Pseudobranch and Choroid Rete Mirabile in Fish Vision.- Quantitative Changes of Synaptic Ribbons in the Cone Pedicles of Nannacara: Light Dependent or Governed by a Circadian Rhythm?.- 7. Behavioural Aspects.- Psychophysical Methods for Investigations of Vision in Fishes.- Behavioural Studies of Vision in a Fish and Possible Relationships to the Environment.- Do Fish Have an Absolute Sense of Light Intensity.- Behavioural Studies of the Discrimination of Visual Orientation andMotion by the Goldfish.- A Behavioural Test of Rod-Red Cone Convergence in the Goldfish Retina.- The Area of the Stimulus Eliciting Response as a Factor in Mirror Image Reversal.- 8. Applied Aspects.- Fish Vision and Applied Research.- Ophthalmic Diseases of Fishes.- Contributors and Participants.- Author Index.