Science

n2doc

(47,953 posts) Wed Sep 19, 2012, 09:51 AM Sep 2012

Sharks Are Color-Blind

By Jennifer Viegas

Sharks are color blind, new research suggests, with the toothy predators likely forever seeing the world in black and white.

The study, published in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters, is the first to investigate the genetic basis and spectral tuning of the shark visual system.

The ramifications could be huge, helping to save both sharks and people.

"The work will have a major influence on human interactions with sharks," co-author Nathan Hart, a research associate professor at the University of Western Australia's School of Animal Biology and The Oceans Institute, told Discovery News.

more
http://news.discovery.com/animals/sharks-color-blind-120919.html

3 replies

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Sharks Are Color-Blind (Original Post) n2doc Sep 2012 OP

Du rec. Nt xchrom Sep 2012 #1

There are benefits to color blindness, especially for predator animals... Larkspur Sep 2012 #2

Interesting. This implies vertebrate color vision evolved in basal bony fish. Odin2005 Sep 2012 #3

xchrom

(108,903 posts)

1. Du rec. Nt

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 09:58 AM

Sep 2012

Larkspur

(12,804 posts)

2. There are benefits to color blindness, especially for predator animals...

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 10:33 AM

Sep 2012

The Upside of Color Blindness
Color blindness is not always a disadvantage, according to University of Calgary primatologist Amanda Melin and her colleagues, who found that wild color-blind capuchins in Costa Rica are better at detecting camouflaged insects than individuals with broader color vision.

SNIP

One possible explanation for the color-blind advantage is that a reduction in color signals makes the differences in texture and brightness more apparent, so it’s easier to see past color camouflage...

SNIP

Odin2005

(53,521 posts)

3. Interesting. This implies vertebrate color vision evolved in basal bony fish.

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Thu Sep 20, 2012, 01:10 PM

Sep 2012

Which would be why modern ray-finned fish, modern lobe-fins, and land vertebrates have color vision, and sharks don't.

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