Testing for color vision in peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni, L. boggessi, and L. jundalini, using optomotor response
Education Level
Undergraduate
Faculty Advisor(s)
Professor Lydia Mäthger
Academic Department(s)
Marine and Natural Sciences
Symposium Date
2024
Abstract
Peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni, L. boggessi, and L. jundalini), are cleaner shrimp that specialize in removing dead and diseased tissue, and parasites on reef fishes. Crustaceans have a range of visual abilities, from being color blind to having many visual pigments, but most of them are limited in their ability to discern colors. A rotating optomotor drum with vertical stripes of blue and red shades were used to document the behavioral responses of each of the Lysmata sp. to determine whether they have color vision. The specific shades of blue and red were selected to have the same relative photon catch, i.e., the shrimps’ presumed known photoreceptor visual pigment absorbed the same amount of light reflected from these two colors. These photon catches were determined by assuming a maximum spectral absorption of the visual pigment of Lysmata sp. identical to published data on L. amboinensis, which has a single visual pigment at λmax=518 nm. To this visual pigment, the generated colors red (645nm, photon catch 0.435) and blue (400nm, photon catch 0.432), have no contrast. Each drum was rotated around a 15cm☓15cm cylindrical tank housing a single shrimp for two minutes at 6rpm. After the first minute, the direction of rotation was switched. A black and white striped drum was used as a control to verify the shrimps’ behavioral response to moving stripes. A solid white drum acted as a second control verifying the shrimps’ behavioral response in the absence of detectable visual stimuli. When presented with the black and white control drum, a positive behavioral response was observed, with shrimp swimming in the direction of the drum, including a reverse in drum spinning direction. A negative response, defined by either random swimming or no movement at all, was observed for the control white drum, but specifically for the colored red and blue drum. This response was seen in all three Lysmata sp., showing that L. wurdemanni, L. boggessi, and L. jundalini are color blind.
Recommended Citation
Hindley, Charlie and Mäthger, Lydia, "Testing for color vision in peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni, L. boggessi, and L. jundalini, using optomotor response" (2024). Student Research Symposium. 12.
https://docs.rwu.edu/studentresearchsymposium/12
Comments
This research was presented at the 2024 Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on Friday, July 26, at the University of Rhode Island and supported by independent work with Dr. Lydia Mäthger.