Photoreception and vision in the ultraviolet

[DaveO]

Another nugget from the previous paper:

 

Cronin & Bok: Photoreception and vision in the ultraviolet

https://jeb.biologists.org/content/219/18/2790

 

Dave

[Damon]

Interesting, thanks Dave.

[JMC]

Thanks for sharing Dave. I wish these articles would show non-normalised graphs of sensitivity as a function of wavelength, instead of the normalised ones, to give a better idea of how sensitive to UV they are in relation to longer wavelengths.

 

As an aside, Mantis shrimp, the king of multispectral imaging.....

[SteveE]

Although this account has always met with universal dismissal, I will share it here. I assert that when I was a small boy I could see UV. This was the early '50s, and there were a number of strong discrete UV sources in my environment (see below). With each of these I perceived a striking, vibrant visual quality that was quite unlike anything I saw anywhere else. They jumped right out and grabbed your attention and I was fascinated with them. When I tried to ask my mother about it. the response I got was "You are not seeing any such thing. Stop trying to annoy me by saying you are." (I got a similar response when I complained about the whine of the TV's flyback transformer)

 

I say that what I was seeing was a distinct color for which we have no name. It was NOT an intense blue-white. The faint blueishness of a mercury vapor lamp was also present, but this was something else entirely. Whatever it was, it was not any of the normal colors for which we have names. I should note that I can no longer perceive this visual quality. Not with my normal eyes, nor after cataract surgery replaced the lens in one eye, nor after retinal detachment surgery produced an eye with no lens and full of oil.

 

UV Sources:

• At church, in the children's areas, there were UV sterilizers. These were high ceiling rooms, and there was a shelf type fixture about 10 feet up that shone germicidal UV upwards. While this is horrifying today, this was the '50s. Polio was stalking the land, and parents were terrified for their kids. Then again, there were also fluoroscopes in the shoe stores so you could check the fit of your shoes.
  
• At the barber shop, there was a sterilizing cabinet that had a ribbed glass front where scissors and the like were stored.
  
• At a little bus station, barely more than a shack, there was a large round clock with fluorescent hands and mumbers. It was illuminated by a circular UV tube under the rim of the frame of the clock.
  

[dabateman]

That sounds really amazing.

I don't doubt that you saw in UV. I also wonder if the people that see color associated with music, can see in uv or IR.

Lots of things we think we know, but don't.