The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Box Jellyfish Use Terrestrial Visual Cues for Navigation

Author

Summary, in English

Box jellyfish have an impressive set of 24 eyes of four different types, including eyes structurally similar to those of vertebrates and cephalopods [1, 2]. However, the known visual responses are restricted to simple phototaxis, shadow responses, and object avoidance responses [3-8], and it has been a puzzle why they need such a complex set of eyes. Here we report that medusae of the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora are capable of visually guided navigation in mangrove swamps using terrestrial structures seen through the water surface. They detect the mangrove canopy by an eye type that is specialized to peer up through the water surface and that is suspended such that it is constantly looking straight up, irrespective of the orientation of the jellyfish. The visual information is used to navigate to the preferred habitat at the edge of mangrove lagoons.

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Pages

798-803

Publication/Series

Current Biology

Volume

21

Issue

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Zoology
  • Computer Vision and Robotics (Autonomous Systems)
  • Mathematics

Status

Published

Research group

  • Lund Vision Group

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1879-0445