A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
The eight camera-type eyes of jumping spiders (Salticidae) endow these hunters with remarkably acute vision. Six of them - two rudimentary and four fixed to the carapace - are conventional eyes that detect motion. The large pair of tubular anterior median eyes, however, is rather more unusual. In both these eyes, the retina is a narrow boomerang-shaped strip oriented vertically. Its central region, where acuity is highest, is merely six or seven receptor rows wide. As the lens is anchored to the carapace, the retina needs to be moved for scanning, which is achieved by a set of muscles that orchestrate a complicated pattern of translations and rotations. Furthermore, the retina possesses a highly complex ultrastructure. Not only does a characteristic pit magnify the image (resulting in a telephoto eye), but the retina also consists of up to four layers of receptors. It has been suggested that this layered structure allows objects at different distances to be focussed at different levels, or different wavelengths to be focussed on receptor layers that are particularly sensitive to them. The scanning movements that direct the retina across a target seem to be related to pattern recognition, distinguishing potential mates from prey.
8 Comments
superb!
Love the video!
Awesome shot!
Thanks for the link in the comment. I love your videos. I learned something today.
Wow love the pictures and love the video.
Bravo!
Thank you Karen. I edited my post to include more information regarding the eyes of jumping spiders. You can also check out my other video showing the scanning movement of the ant-mimic spider's eyes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZj9sU-8Z...
Lovely series! I though it was very interesting how the spiders eyes appear to change color in the video.