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Visual pigments of Baltic Sea fishes of marine and limnic origin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2007

MIRKA JOKELA-MÄÄTTÄ ,
TEEMU SMURA ,
ANNA AALTONEN ,
PETRI ALA-LAURILA  and
KRISTIAN DONNER
MIRKA JOKELA-MÄÄTTÄ
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
TEEMU SMURA
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
ANNA AALTONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
PETRI ALA-LAURILA
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Massachusetts
KRISTIAN DONNER
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract

Absorbance spectra of rods and some cones were measured by microspectrophotometry in 22 fish species from the brackish-water of the Baltic Sea, and when applicable, in the same species from the Atlantic Ocean (3 spp.), the Mediterranean Sea (1 sp.), or Finnish fresh-water lakes (9 spp.). The main purpose was to study whether there were differences suggesting spectral adaptation of rod vision to different photic environments during the short history (<104 years) of postglacial isolation of the Baltic Sea and the Finnish lakes. Rod absorbance spectra of the Baltic subspecies/populations of herring (Clupea harengus membras), flounder (Platichthys flesus), and sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus) were all long-wavelength-shifted (9.8, 1.9, and 5.3 nm, respectively, at the wavelength of maximum absorbance, λmax) compared with their truly marine counterparts, consistent with adaptation for improved quantum catch, and improved signal-to-noise ratio of vision in the Baltic light environment. Judged by the shape of the spectra, the chromophore was pure A1 in all these cases; hence the differences indicate evolutionary tuning of the opsin. In no species of fresh-water origin did we find significant opsin-based spectral shifts specific to the Baltic populations, only spectral differences due to varying A1/A2 chromophore ratio in some. For most species, rod λmax fell within a wavelength range consistent with high signal-to-noise ratio of vision in the spectral conditions prevailing at depths where light becomes scarce in the respective waters. Exceptions were sandeels in the Baltic Sea, which are active only in bright light, and all species in a “brown” lake, where rod λmax lay far below the theoretically optimal range.

Keywords

MicrospectrophotometryAbsorbance spectraQuantum catchRodSignal-to-noise ratio
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , May 2007 , pp. 389 - 398
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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