How does the tiger salamander see?
The tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is a amphibian in the order Caudata. Its eyes belong to the vision type Amphibian motion detector.
Measured in this species: colour, night vision and motion (flicker fusion). Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has 4 colour receptor classes; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 2.8 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 30 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[6][5]
- Activity pattern: cathemeral.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 4 receptor classes: 434 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 521 nm (MWS (green)), 580 nm (LWS (long)), 620 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1][2] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 2.8 cycles per degree median of 1 relatives in class Amphibia: Lithobates pipiens | Group default | [3] |
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | Activity pattern cathemeral mode of 3 rows (of 3 rows): cathemeral | Measured (not re-verified) | [1][4] |
| Rods vs cones mixed nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated | Derived | [1][4] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 30 Hz median of 1 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [30.0]); cff_hz: dim-light rows (bright-light rows used) set aside (labelled alternative: 30) | Measured | [5] |
Related animals
- Northern leopard frog same vision type
- African clawed frog same vision type
- American bullfrog same vision type
- Asiatic toad same vision type
- Bufo toad same vision type
- Common frog same vision type
More amphibians: all amphibians with measured vision data.
Sources
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- Thermal Activation and Photoactivation of Visual Pigments (2004)
- Caves EM, Fernandez-Juricic E, Kelley LA (2024) Ecological and morphological correlates of visual acuity in birds. J Exp Biol 227(2): jeb246063. Supplementary Table S1.. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246063
- Moura et al. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterisation of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. PLoS Biol 22:e3002658. TetrapodTraits v3.0.1.. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22536349
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?