Role of vision in behavior, visual field, and visual acuity of cuttlefish Sepia esculenta

Abstract

The role of vision in the entry of the cuttlefish Sepia esculenta into basket traps was examined in laboratory experiments and by histological examination of the retina. Both entry into the trap and feeding on shore crabs stopped when the tank was completely darkened. The eyes of cuttlefish have a high sensitivity to light. The visual field of cuttlefish was determined by the optical method, based on the assumption that incident light on the pupil from any direction reaches the retina through a refractive lens. The uniocular visual field was found to be 253° on the horizontal plane, and the anterior and posterior binocular visual fields were 86° and 60° respectively. On the retina, areas with especially high visual cell density formed a visual equator slightly above the optical equator. The distribution of the visual cell density indicates no specific visual axis. The visual acuity is 0.36 when estimated from the bait recognition distance and the size of bait during feeding, and 0.89 when determined from the visual cell density at the visual equator and the focal length of the lens. Cuttlefish have far superior visual acuity than fish.