Mantis shrimp vision reveals new way that animals can see

“The precise role that these signals, visible to a CPL visual system, play in stomatopod sexual signaling is not yet known, but we speculate that these CPL reflections could act as a secret communication channel,” the researchers concluded. “Linear polarization signals, used by marine invertebrates, are visible to animals like cephalopods that prey on stomatopods and are therefore open to exploitation. Also, other genera of stomatopods that we have examined have variable CPL sensitivity, and may be unable to view the sexual displays of Odontodactylus species, making this a private channel of communication, unavailable to both predators and potential stomatopod competitors.

“Whatever the use of CPL signals and CPL vision to stomatopods, comparing design features of their CPL reflectors and sensors to those of man-made systems will be interesting,” they added. “Humans use CPL filters and imaging in everyday photography, medical photography, and object-detection systems in turbid environments. The reefs and waters that many stomatopods inhabit are often turbid, and it is perhaps no surprise that, perhaps as long as 400 million years ago (when stomatopod crustaceans first appeared), nature got there first.”

The researchers include Tsyr-Huei Chiou, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD; Sonja Kleinlogel, Sensory Neurobiology Group, Vision Touch and Hearing Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Tom Cronin, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD; Roy Calwell, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Birte Loeffler, Sensory Neurobiology Group, Vision Touch and Hearing Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Afsheen Siddiqi, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD;

Alan Goldizen, Sensory Neurobiology Group, Vision Touch and Hearing Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; and Justin Marshall, Sensory Neurobiology Group, Vision Touch and Hearing Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

This work was supported by grants from the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Australian Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Swiss National Foundation.

Chiou et al.: “Circular Polarization Vision in a Stomatopod Crustacean.” Publishing in Current Biology 18, 1–6, March 25, 2008. DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2008.02.066 www.current-biology.com

Author Contact: Marshall, University of Queensland in Queensland, Australia, at .

PIO Contact: Andrew Dunne, at University of Queensland, at .