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Visual acuity and feeding in larval Premnas biaculeatus
Author(s) -
Job S. D.,
Bellwood D. R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1996.tb01489.x
Subject(s) - biology , larva , visual acuity , zoology , ecology , ophthalmology , medicine
Ontogenetic change in the visual acuity of Premnas biaculeatus larvae was determined both behaviourally and anatomically. Visual acuity improved substantially between early feeding (day 3 post‐hatch) and the pre‐settlement (day 10 post‐hatch) larvae but, at both ages, the anatomically‐measured visual acuity was greater than that determined behaviourally. It appears that estimated anatomical visual acuity values substantially over‐estimate the functional visual acuity realized under normal conditions. The distribution of the reactive angles indicated that most frequently prey within 0 to 9° of the longitudinal larval axis elicited a feeding response at both larval ages. This suggests that stereoscopic vision is used extensively during feeding in this species. The prey capture success with rotifers ranged from 96% at 3 days post‐hatch to 100% at 10 days post‐hatch. These values differ markedly from previous studies on temperate species and highlight the well developed abilities of larval P. biaculeatus at a given