Shadow response in the blind cavefish Astyanax reveals conservation of a functional pineal eye.

ABSTRACT: The blind cavefish Astyanax mexicanus undergoes bilateral eye degeneration during embryonic development. Despite the absence of light in the cave environment, cavefish have retained a structurally intact pineal eye. We show here that contrary to visual degeneration in the bilateral eyes, the cavefish pineal eye has conserved the ability to detect light. Larvae of two different Astyanax cavefish populations and the con-specific sighted surface-dwelling form (surface fish) respond similarly to light dimming by shading the pineal eye. As a response to shading, cavefish larvae swim upward vertically. This behavior resembles that of amphibian tadpoles rather than other teleost larvae, which react to shadows by swimming downward. The shadow response is highest at 1.5-days post-fertilization (d.p

SUBMITTER: Yoshizawa M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3584714 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature