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General-purpose and special-purpose visual systems
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posted on 2023-06-07, 14:40 authored by Michael F Land, Dan-E NilssonThe information that eyes supply supports a wide variety of functions, from the guidance systems that enable an animal to navigate successfully around the environment, to the detection and identification of predators, prey, and conspecifics. The eyes with which we are most familiar the single-chambered eyes of vertebrates and cephalopod molluscs, and the compound eyes of insects and higher crustaceans allow these animals to perform the full range of visual tasks. These eyes have evidently evolved in conjunction with brains that are capable of subjecting the raw visual information to many different kinds of analysis, depending on the nature of the task that the animal is engaged in. However, not all eyes evolved to provide such comprehensive information. For example, in bivalve molluscs we find eyes of very varied design (pinholes, concave mirrors, and apposition compound eyes) whose only function is to detect approaching predators and thereby allow the animal to protect itself by closing its shell. Thus, there are special-purpose eyes as well as eyes with multiple functions.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Publisher
Cambridge University PressPage range
167-210Pages
547.0Book title
Invertebrate VisionPlace of publication
Cambridge, UKISBN
9780521830881Department affiliated with
- Biology and Environmental Science Publications
Notes
© Cambridge University Press 2006Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- No
Editors
Eric Warrant, Dan-Eric NilssonLegacy Posted Date
2008-07-28First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-08-02Usage metrics
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