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Vision plays a crucial role in the life of the vast majority of vertebrate species. The spatial arrangement of retinal ganglion cells has been reported to be related to a species’ visual behavior. There are many studies focusing on the ganglion cell topography in bony fish species. However, there are still large gaps in our knowledge on the subject. We studied the topography of retinal ganglion cells (GCs) in the Japanese smelt Hypomesus nipponensis, a highly visual teleostean fish with a complex life cycle. DAPI labeling was used to visualize cell nuclei in the ganglion cell and inner plexiform layers. The ganglion cell layer was relatively thin (about 6‐8 μm), even in areas of increased cell density (area retinae temporalis), and was normally composed of a single layer of cells. In all retinal regions, rare cells occurred in the inner plexiform layer. Nissl‐stained retinae were used to estimate the proportion of displaced amacrine cells and glia in different retinal regions. In all retinal regions, about 84.5% of cells in the GC layer were found to be ganglion cells. The density of GCs varied across the retina in a regular way. It was minimum (3990 and 2380 cells/mm(2) in the smaller and larger fish, respectively) in the dorsal and ventral periphery. It gradually increased centripetally and reached a maximum of 14,275 and 10,960 cells/mm(2) (in the smaller and larger fish, respectively) in the temporal retina, where a pronounced area retinae temporalis was detected. The total number of GCs varied from 177 × 10(3) (smaller fish) to 212 × 10(3) cells (larger fish). The theoretical anatomical spatial resolution (the anatomical estimate of the upper limit of visual acuity calculated from the density of GCs and eye geometry and expressed in cycles per degree) was minimum in the ventral periphery (smaller fish, 1.46 cpd; larger fish, 1.26 cpd) and maximum in area retinae temporalis (smaller fish, 2.83 cpd; larger fish, 2.75 cpd). The relatively high density of GCs and the presence of area retinae temporalis in the Japanese smelt are consistent with its highly visual behavior. The present findings contribute to our understanding of the factors affecting the topography of retinal ganglion cells and visual acuity in fish.

A full-length complementary (c)DNA encoding ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive opsin (sws1) was isolated from the retina of the Japanese sardine Sardinops melanostictus. The sws1 phylogenetic tree showed a sister group relationship with the Cypriniformes, following the ray-finned fish phylogeny. By expressing reconstituted opsin in vitro, it was determined that the maximum absorbance spectrum (λmax ) of sws1 is around 382 nm, being intermediate in position between two subtypes of sws1 pigment that are UV sensitive (λmax = 355-380 nm) and violet sensitive (λmax = 388-455 nm), which have been reported to date. The ocular media transmitted >20% transmittance of light in the range of 360-600 nm. In situ hybridization analyses revealed that sws1 messenger (m)RNA is localized in a central single cone surrounded by four double cones in a square mosaic. The square mosaic occupies the ventro-temporal quadrant of the retina and the in situ hybridization signals were dominant in this area suggesting that the fish may use UV vision when looking upward. Based on these results, considerable significances of potential UV sensitivity, in relation to characteristic habits of S. melanostictus, are discussed.

The spectral absorbance of photoreceptor visual pigments and the opsin gene class of the visual pigments was investigated in Sardinops melanostictus. Microspectrophotometric (MSP) measurements showed that the rod photoreceptors had peak absorbance spectra (λmax) at 502 nm. The spectral sensitivity of single cones was centered at 393 nm. Double cones had a λmax of 493/522 nm, but a few displayed a red-shifted absorbance of the long-wave member at 542 nm. The mRNAs of six different opsins were isolated from the retina, retrotranscribed, cloned, and sequenced. Three genes encoded opsins in the green-sensitive class (RH2), and three genes encoded opsins in the red-sensitive class (LWS), the ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive (SWS1) class, and the rod class (RH1). A Southern blot analysis showed that the blue-sensitive (SWS2) opsin gene is absent from this species, hence it was concluded that the λmax of 393 nm was generated from the SWS1 opsin. Phylogenetic analyses of S. melanostictus RH1, LWS, and SWS1 sequences placed them with orthologs from other species (e.g., the cyprinids Danio rerio and Carrasius auratus) in Otomorpha. However, unexpectedly, the RH2 sequences were more similar to orthologs in members of the Euteleosteomorpha (e.g., Oryzias latipes and Takifugu rubripes) than to cyprinid RH2 opsins.

The morphology, fine structure and spectral sensitivity of retinal photoreceptors of two anchovy species were investigated using light and electron microscopy and microspectrophotometry. Distinct regional specialisation of cones was observed. Long and short (bilobed) cones were observed in the horizontal retinal belt, including the nasal and temporal retinal zones. Only triple cones with two long lateral components, one small central component were observed in the dorsal and ventro-nasal retinal regions. The long cones presented various lamellar organisation patterns: (1) in parallel along the cell axis in the central retina, (2) oriented transversely at the base of the outer segment, and (3) tilted longitudinally while extending to the tip of the cone in the retinal periphery. In the short cones, the lamellae were always oriented along the cell axis, and their planes were perpendicular to the lamellae in the long cones, providing a structural basis for the detection of polarisation of incident light. The lamellae in all the outer segments of the triple cones are arranged perpendicular to the long cell axis. In both species, the long and short cones from the ventro-temporal retina were slender and more densely packed, and the outer segments of the long cones lay far more sclerad compared with the outer segments of the bifid cones. Microspectrophotometry revealed that in both species the lateral components of the triple cones displayed a maximum absorbance wavelength ( λ max ) of approximately 502 nm, while the short central components were more shortwave sensitive ( λ max = 475 nm). The λ max of all long and short cones in the ventro-temporal zone was 492 nm, compared to 502 nm in other retinal regions. Anchovies are unique among vertebrates in that they contain clear structural basis for both colour and polarisation vision in the same retina.

Knowing neuronal types is essential for understanding the structural and functional organization of the nervous system. It has long been recognized that neuronal types should be discovered and not defined. This can be done using cluster analysis (CA). Despite there being many studies using CA to classify neurons, only a few of them meet its formal prerequisites. In the present study, we provide an example of using CA in combination with other multivariate techniques for examining neuronal diversity. A special emphasis is put on formal prerequisites to the data and procedure. The data under scrutiny are a sample of ganglion cells projecting to the basal optic nucleus [accessory optic system-projecting ganglion cells (AOS GCs)] in the common frog. There is physiological evidence that these cells comprise at least two functional types but their structural heterogeneity has not been addressed. Cells were labeled with horseradish peroxidasein vivoand examined in whole-mounted retinae using light microscopy. A sample of well-stained cells was obtained and used to estimate 18 structural parameters. A variety of clustering algorithms were used to classify the cells. The joint polar distribution of dendrite mass was monomodal. CA did not reveal a statistically reliable cluster structure in the sample. The clusters were not cohesive and well isolated. ANOVA-on-Ranks revealed no significant between-cluster differences. Our formal conclusion is that functionally distinct frog AOS GCs do not differ in morphology or dendritic arbor orientation. The advantages and limitations of the adopted approach are discussed.

The presence of two spectrally different kinds of rod photoreceptors in amphibians has been hypothesized to enable purely rod-based colour vision at very low light levels. The hypothesis has never been properly tested, so we performed three behavioural experiments at different light intensities with toads (Bufo) and frogs (Rana) to determine the thresholds for colour discrimination. The thresholds of toads were different in mate choice and prey-catching tasks, suggesting that the differential sensitivities of different spectral cone types as well as task-specific factors set limits for the use of colour in these behavioural contexts. In neither task was there any indication of rod-based colour discrimination. By contrast, frogs performing phototactic jumping were able to distinguish blue from green light down to the absolute visual threshold, where vision relies only on rod signals. The remarkable sensitivity of this mechanism comparing signals from the two spectrally different rod types approaches theoretical limits set by photon fluctuations and intrinsic noise. Together, the results indicate that different pathways are involved in processing colour cues depending on the ecological relevance of this information for each task.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Vision in dim light’.

Large retinal ganglion cells of the marine neoteleost Bathymaster derjugini were labeled with horseradish peroxidase and studied in flatmounts. Four types formed regular, independent mosaics, of which three (biplexiform, alpha-a, alpha-c) resembled those in several other teleosts. The fourth (alpha-ab) appeared novel in one significant respect. Whereas we originally described similar cells in another neoteleost, Oreochromis spilurus, as monostratified in sublamina b of the inner plexiform layer, these were very clearly bistratified in a and b. Detailed re-analysis of our Oreochromis flatmounts showed that the difference is of one degree only: many Oreochromis cells do send fine dendrites into a. These observations strengthen the evidence that all four mosaics are homologous across a wide range of fishes, and clear away an obstacle to our earlier proposals that the alpha-a, alpha-ab and alpha-c mosaics of fishes, frogs, and perhaps other nonmammalian jawed vertebrates too, may all be homologous.

Summary A complement of cone visual pigments was identified in the Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus, one of the engraulid fish species that has a retina specialized for polarization and color vision. The nature of the chromophore bound to opsin proteins was investigated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The opsin genes were then cloned and sequenced, and the absorption spectra of different types of cones were obtained by microspectrophotometry (MSP). Two green (EJ-RH2-1, EJ-RH2-2) and one red (EJ-LWS) cone opsin genes were identified and are presumably related to the Vitamin A1-based visual pigments (i.e., rhodopsins) with λmax values of 492, 474 and 512 nm for EJ-RH2-1, EJ-RH2-2, and EJ-LWS, respectively. The long and short cones from the ventro-temporal retinal zone consisted of a pure population of RH2 class gene-based pigments (λmax value of 492 nm). The long and short cones from other retinal areas and the lateral components of the triple cones possessed a mixture of RH2 and LWS class gene-based pigments that exhibited a λmax value approximately 502 nm. The central component of the triple cones contained only RH2 class gene-based pigments (λmax value of 474 nm). Thus, E. japonicus possesses a middle-wave range of spectral sensitivity and acquires different color vision systems in distinct visual fields. .

Biplexiform ganglion cells were labelled by retrograde transport of HRP in five species of marine fish from the neoteleost acanthopterygian orders Perciformes and Scorpaeniformes. Their forms and spatial distributions were studied in retinal flatmounts and thick sections. Biplexiform ganglion cells possessed sparsely branched, often varicose, dendrites that ramified through the inner nuclear layer (INL) to reach the outer plexiform layer (OPL), as well as conventional arborizations in the most sclerad part of the inner plexiform layer (IPL). Their somata were of above-average size and were displaced into the vitread border of the INL. Mean soma areas ranged from 99 ± 6 μm2 in Bathymaster derjugini (Perciformes) to 241 ± 12 μm2 in Hexagrammos stelleri (Scorpaeniformes), but were similar in each species to those of the outer-stratified alpha-like ganglion cells, whose dendritic trees occupied the same IPL sublamina. In the best-labelled specimens, biplexiform cells formed clear mosaics with spacings and degrees of regularity much like those of other large ganglion cells, but spatially independent of them. Biplexiform mosaics were plotted in three species, and analyzed by nearest-neighbor distance and spatial correlogram methods. The exclusion radius, an estimate of minimum mosaic spacing, ranged from 113 urn in Hexagrammos stelleri, through 150 μm in Ernogrammus hexagraminus (Perciformes), to 240 μm in Myoxocephalus stelleri (Scorpaeniformes). A spatial cross-correlogram analysis of the distributions of biplexiform and outer-stratified alpha-like cells in Hexagrammos demonstrated the spatial independence of their mosaics. Similar cells were previously observed not only in the freshwater cichlid Oreochromis spilurus (Perciformes) but also in the goldfish Carassius auratiis (Cypriniformes) which, being an ostariophysan teleost, is only distantly related. Thus, biplexiform ganglion cells may be regular elements of all teleost fish retinae. Their functional role remains unknown.