VISION IN ARTHROPODA

CC-iii , SEM - 2nd (Hons ) Mrs. Nibedita Karmakar, zoology

VISION IN CRUSTACEA (Prawn) – The Compound Eye

Crustacea includes prawns, crabs, lobsters, shrimps, barnacles, water fleas etc., which possess a pair of
compound eyes for vision.

Prawn possesses a pair of large stalked hemispherical eyes on the anterior side of cephalothorax below
the rostrum. Each eye is composed of a large number of independent visual units called ommatidia
which are connected to the optic nerve. An ommatidium is divisible into the outer dioptrical region for
receiving and focusing light rays and the inner sensory region for perceiving light and sending the nerve
impulse to the brain, which analyses the impulses as image of the object.

The cuticle on the surface is modified as cornea over the ommatidia and gives the eye necessary
protection and also allows the light rays to enter the eye. Below the cornea, a pair of corneagen cells
secretes fresh cornea in case of wear and tear. A lens-like crystalline cone is located beneath the
corneagen cells and serves to focus light rays inwards. The crystalline cone is surrounded by four cone
cells or Vitrellae that serve to provide nourishment to the cone.

Next layer is of sensory cells called Rhabdomes which are elongated and transversely striated and are
sensory in function. Seven retinalcells that surround the rhabdome and encircle it provide it nutrition
and protection. Chromatophores are pigment cells which are responsible for separating one
ommatidium from the other so that they remain as independent units. They are located around the
cone cells and retinal cells and can shrink or expand to increase or decrease the intensity of light
entering the eye.

THE MOSAIC VISION

The compound eye is incapable of giving distant vision and sharp vision but is efficient in picking up
motion and in providing 360° view, as it is large globular and mounted on a movable stalk. Each
ommatidium is capable of producing an independent image of a small part of the object seen and not
the entire object. All these small images are combined in the brain to form a complete image of the
object that is made of small dots or mosaic of dots and hence it is called mosaic vision. The range of the
compound eye is not more than a foot and hence no single ommatidium can perceive the entire object.
Movement of the objects can be detected much more efficiently by the compound eye because as the
object passes in front of the eye, the ommatidia switch on and off according to their location in relation
to the object . This characteristic of the compound eye helps the animal in detecting the movement of
the predators and escape before the latter can strike.

Another characteristic feature of the compound eye is its high flicker fusion rate, which means it can
perceive action as successive independent frames of images and not as a continuous motion. The flicker
fusion rate of the compound eye is about 50 frames per second as compared to 12-15 frames per
second of human eye. By perceiving motion the compound eye helps arthropods to escape from
predators.

The Apposition Image

This is perceived in bright light, when pigment cells in the dioptrical and sensory regions spread and
completely separate the ommatidia from each other, so that the angle of vision of an ommatidium is
only 1 degree and light rays coming directly from the front can only enter the ommatidium, whereas the
light rays coming at an angle are absorbed by the pigment before they can reach rhabdomes. The image
formed in brain is a mosaic of several dots, each one of which is formed by an ommatidium. Each
ommatidium uses only a tiny portion of the total field of vision and then in brain these tiny images are
grouped together to form a single image of the object. Since each dot is clearly separated from the other,
it is called mosaic or apposition image. The sharpness of the image depends on the number of
ommatidia and their isolation from one another.

The Superposition Image

This type of vision occurs in dim light in nocturnal arthropods. The pigment cells shrink to allow more
light into the eye, so that the ommatidia no longer remain optically isolated from one another, enabling
even oblique light rays to strike one or more ommatidia. This results in overlapping of the adjacent
blotches of images formed by different ommatidia. This is called superposition image because
overlapping images are formed in the brain. This image is not sharp but hazy because of overlapping
images.

VISION IN ARACHNIDA (Scorpion) – The simple eye

Scorpion belongs to the class Arachnida and possesses only simple eyes. It has a pair of large median
indirect eyes and three pairs of lateral direct eyes which function in different ways in different situations.

The Median Indirect eyes: The median eyes are large convex and covered with the thick cuticle that
forms cornea or lens. The hypodermis forms a thick vitreous body that nourishes the lens. The sensory
rhabdomes point backwards towards the reflecting layer called tapetum. The rhabdomes are
surrounded by many sensory retinal cells which transmit nerve impulses to the optic nerve and then to
the brain. Median eyes of scorpion are used for vision in the night or in dark places because the dim light
entering the eye is reflected by the tapetum to strike the rhabdomes again to form vision.

The Lateral direct eyes: Lateral eyes are small in size, 3 pairs and located on the lateral sides of prosoma.
This eye is covered externally by a biconvex lens formed from the transparent cuticle. The epidermis
forms a thinner vitreous body under the lens. Inside the eye cup are several rhabdomes which point
directly towards the source of light as the tapetum is absent in these eyes. Each rhabdome is connected
on the posterior end to a sensory retinal cell that is connected to the nerve. The lateral eyes are used to
provide vision in day time or in bright light.

VISION IN INSECTA (Cockroach) – Simple as well as Compound Eyes

Insects possess one pair of compound eyes and 1-3 simple eyes or ocelli on top of the head. In
cockroach the ocelli are rudimentary.

The Insect Compound Eyes: The compound eyes are sessile in the form of convex brownish-black,
kidney-shaped structures on the lateral sides of head. Each eye contains about 2,000 ommatidia, similar
in structure to those already described earlier.

The pigments separating ommatidia are not retractable in the eyes of cockroach since the animal is
nocturnal and spends daytime in dark places. But the eye produces mosaic vision similar to the
crustaceans. Compound eyes are specially adapted to perceive movements of objects. The insect
compound eye is advanced structure because the number of ommatidia in insect eyes increases giving
the eye sharpness of vision. Also the distance of vision increases in predatory insects and fast flying
insects.

The Insect Ocelli. Ocelli are simple eyes, more or less similar to the simple eyes of arachnids and provide
the eye with distant vision. Ocelli also give nocturnal vision to night flying insects, which find their way
by aligning them at an angle with the moon or stars. By possessing both types of eyes, insects enjoy both
types of visions, namely detection of movement with compound eyes and distant vision with simple
eyes or ocelli.