Vision in fishes and crustaceans is a fascinating and understudied area. In past decades, there were far more studies on the visual systems of sea-dwelling creatures, but with the push towards applied or translational research, the number of reports in these species have dropped off, much to our detriment as one never knows where the applications of basic research will pay off.
At the same time, the whole study of bioluminescence and vision is an interesting examination of how organisms use bioluminescence for mating, warning or aposematism, crypsis or counter-illumination and predation. It is explicitly a visual phenomenon and as such, has informed a variety of investigations into biomedical, commercial and military applications. Continue reading “Interesting papers: Light and vision in the deep-sea benthos”