A new controversy for us... are fish colorblind?

[FlaFly 0]

See this link: http://www,nefsc.noaa.gov/faq/fishfaq1c.html

 

I haven't researched beyond this point. They say "most fish" implying that some may not be colorblind.

[wschmitt3 0]

link doesn't seem to work

 

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/faq/fishfaq1c.html

 

It was kinda my understanding that they cant see color in the sense that we do but instead they see shades and tones

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Fla - link didn't work

 

Schmitty's did

 

Ditto what Schmitty said.

 

BCT

[whatfly 0]

Ultimately it depends on species, time of day, etc., but this is hardly a controversy, nor new.

[Bruce Norikane 0]

I'm not sure who wrote that, but it's very well accepted that most fish can see color. There are some exceptions, but certainly trout, salmon, bass, carp and pike can see color. I don't think this is even disputed.

 

quote from Wikipedia:

 

Fish eyes are similar to terrestrial vertebrates like birds and mammals, but have a more spherical lens. Their retinas generally have both rod cells and cone cells (for scotopic and photopic vision), and most species have colour vision.

[McGnat 0]

A general rule of thumb that works for animals except apes is that if the animal has color, then it can see color.

[Saltybum 0]

Why did GOD create animals such as reptiles, moths, octopus and many others that can change colors to hide from predators if they are color blind?

[RickZieger 0]

Read "What Fish See" by Colin J Kageyama, OD

 

Rick

[portlyjoe 0]

As I understand it, fish can not see color in the way a human does. (although, none of this has been proven due to scientists not having a fish tell them what they see) it is however a common thought that most fish do have a fairly accurate vision and can see lightwaves that are unable to be seen by man. It is also known that pattern and profile are used by fish to find/recognize prey. Some scientists believe that fish can see UV light better and that uv colors tend to be more visible. We see color by the light wave bouncing off an object. example: a blue ball looks blue because the blue light wave is being reflected off the ball. Since the other light waves travel through the ball is why we don't see them.

There are other reasons of how light plays with color but as for fishermen it is important to understand the deeper and object is in the water, the more color dissipates because of attenuation of light.( the scattering and absorption of color ).

Thats how i understand it.

[mikechell 0]

Their retinas generally have both rod cells and cone cells (for scotopic and photopic vision), and most species have colour vision.

Evolution has given most creatures the ability to see in a yellow sun's light. Since the sun's spectrum includes so many "colors" ... it only makes sense that most creatures, fish included, have evolved to see at least some of that spectrum. We KNOW rods and cones allow US to see colors and detail ... it goes a long way to proving that any animal that has rods and cones can, too.

 

The real question is, how much does color matter to creatures that have evolved in a much narrower band of the spectrum than "terrestrial" creatures.

[heavynets 0]

You mean all that UV material that I have been paying extra for was a waste of money? You mean that if it's chartreuse, it's of little use? You mean dark colors on cloudy days, bright colors on sunny days is bunk? You mean fishermen have lied to us?

[FlaFly 0]

Well, it's not that simple. An animal doesn't have to be able to see color to have color.. There are basically two reasons for an animal to be a particular color, either to be invisible to predators, or to be attractive to mates. If one were the latter (colored to attract a mate) it stands to reason that both male and female could see color.

 

Mike, terrestrial/avian animals see items in sunlight, but not all wavelengths penetrate water. Infrared and red don't penetrate very far, so a red fish would be essentially invisible, and there would be no advantage to be able to see red. Like I said, I haven't done any more research on scientific studies to see who can see what, but the statement was on a government scientific (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) site, which I would tend to accept more readily than something on Wikipedia.

 

I didn't say anything about UV (although UV does tend to penetrate farther), but a lot of choices of colors for flies is based on our assumption that the target species can see that color. Someone just posted a pattern for a moth that is green and black. The fly wasn't shaped like the subject moth, .... the only thing it had in common was the color. That put me to wondering.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Bottom lines... does color of our flies and lures sometimes matter? OF COURSE. Can we say for sure why? NO.

 

Rods and cones, yeah.... evolution of sensory organs, yeah... but there is no way to KNOW how a fish's brain interprets the information sent to it through it's nervous system from those sensory organs.

 

Just go back a week or two and look into the controversy about the color of the picture of the dress that was all over the news and the internet. I won't go into a dissertation about the ELECTRONIC variables which made that whole thing totally worthless, but HUMANS can often not agree on how we perceive sensory input... "One man's pleasure's another man's pain" to quote Molly Hatchet....

 

Does color matter? YES can we say definitively why it matters? NO

[FlaFly 0]

Thanx Joel ... Yes color (or colour for our UKers) does seem to matter. I'm not so sure we can't know why. I want to research the ichthyological literature to see what has been researched. There are several ways these kinds of studies can be done. I recall a report that described the ability of octopi to see red (even though it doesn't penetrate very deeply). Go figure. Both octopi and squid can change body colors maybe for communication.

 

BTW long time no see. Hope all is well.

[Stevester 0]

Since most fish have cones in the retina color vision is a given. Nature doesn't waste energy on structures and systems that are not being used.

 

Steve