US-United Kingdom Cooperative Research: Optics and Movementsof Stomatoped Crustacean Eyes

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This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Thomas Cronin, University of Maryland Baltimore County and Dr. Michael Land, University of Sussex, England. The research will focus on the optics and movements of stomatoped crustacean eyes. Stomatopod crustaceans have unusual and specialized visual systems, characterized by two unique features. First, each eye is triple in organization - three regions of one eye view the same point in space. This design may be used for distance perception and hue discrimination; it also may provide polarization vision and an unusual type of form vision. The other characteristic feature of stomatopod vision is that the eyes scan large visual fields, but do so without bilateral coordination. The proposed study will examine the internal filters and visual pigments of the various eye regions using microspectrophotometry, and work out their contributions to spectral sensitivity. Using interference microscopy, the investigators will learn how stomatopods form images on their retinas. Finally, the investigators will learn how the investigators will use a video computer interfacing method developed by Dr. Land to analyze stomatopod eye movements during scanning, tracking, fixation, and optokinesis. These studies will not only assist the two major laboratories working on stomatopod vision to coordinate their research, but also are expected to have results of general significance for vision science and for the application of artificial intelligence to computer/robotic vision.