Red fluorescence in marine fishes and new ways of seeing eyes

Title:	Red fluorescence in marine fishes and new ways of seeing eyes
Category:	Ecology & Macroevolution
Date:	29. Feb. 2012, 14:00 - 15:30
Venue:	Eawag Kastanienbaum
	Seeheim
Speaker:	Prof. Dr. Nico Michiels, Department of Biology, University of Tuebingen
Leader:	Dr. Hitoshi Araki
Download:	as calendar event

In the first half of my talk I shall show that a range of marine fishes use fluorescence to produce patterns for signaling, warning and camouflage. Fluorescence is particularly useful for aquatic organisms because it makes color signals less dependent on the incoming spectrum - a major advantage in aquatic environments. The second half of my talk builds on this and will contain data that suggest that fish have evolved a set of mechanisms to emit light from the eye, which may work as a detection system for other eyes. If confirmed, this new function has wide-ranging consequences for the (co)evolution of eyes in aquatic systems.