Responses of the screening pigments in the compound eye ofNeomysis integer (Crustacea: Mysidacea)

✍ Scribed by Hallberg, E. ;Andersson, M. ;Nilsson, D.-E.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 429 KB
• Volume: 212
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402120312

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The following responses of the screening pigment in the compound eyes of the mysid Neomysis integer(Leach) were studied using histological methods: viz. the light and dark adaptation, the reaction of the light‐adapted eyes towards different light intensities, and the pigment distribution during prolonged exposure to light and darkness. The light and dark adaptations of the screening pigments are characterized by a strong initial reaction, which is followed by a gradual approach to a more or less stable state. In the light adaptation of the proximal pigment, the initial distal movement is especially pronounced, followed by a phase during which the pigment moves proximally. The eye is light‐adapted in about 20 minutes. Dark adaptation, on the other hand, is a slower process requiring more than an hour. The position of the pigment in the light‐adapted eyes is influenced by the light intensity, as the limits of the pigment shield progress in increasing light intensities. In animals subjected to total darkness or continuous illumination, the variations of the pigment screen could not be correlated with cyclic diurnal migrations.