How does the goldfish see?
The goldfish (Carassius auratus) is a fish in the order Cypriniformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Shallow-water fish tetrachromat: 4 cones incl. UV and far-red; archerfish and four-eyed fish add dual-medium optics.
Measured in this species: colour, sharpness 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, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 3 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- Both eyes see the same 32.85° in front of it (binocular overlap), where depth is judged best.
- It stops seeing flicker at 53.6 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[9][11]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
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: 360 nm (UVS), 455 nm (SWS (blue)), 532 nm (MWS (green)), 614 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1][2][3] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Measured (not re-verified) | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 3 cycles per degree median of 7 behavioural rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [4] |
| Field of view | Binocular overlap 32.85° median of 2 relatives in family Cyprinidae: Danio rerio, Notemigonus crysoleucas | Estimated | [5] |
| Eye placement lateral | Estimated | [5] | |
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V18 within phylum Chordata (2 species: Toxotes jaculatrix, Anableps anableps) | Group default | [6][7] |
| Fovea type ventrotemporal area (high rgc density) | Group default | [6][7] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V18 within phylum Chordata (1 species: Amphiprion ocellaris) | Group default | [8] |
| Rods vs cones cone-dominated | Group default | [8] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 53.6 Hz median of 2 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [40.0, 67.2]) | Measured | [9][10] |
Comparisons
Related animals
- Zebrafish same vision type
- Common carp same vision type
- Freshwater bream same vision type
- Roach same vision type
- Asp same vision type
- Bleak same vision type
More fish: all fish with measured vision data.
Sources
- Schweikert LE, Fitak RR, Caves EM, Sutton TT, Johnsen S. 2018. Spectral sensitivity in ray-finned fishes: diversity, ecology and shared descent. J Exp Biol 221:jeb189761. Table S1. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.189761
- VPOD in-vivo (MSP / single-cell) lambda max compendium, file scp_cleaned.csv, VPOD GitHub (Frazer et al. 2025 bioRxiv 10.1101/2025.08.22.671864). github.com/VisualPhysiologyDB/visual-physiology-opsin-db/tree/main/scripts_n_notebooks/vpod_ML_workflows/mine_n_match/data_sources/lmax/vpod
- Hárosi F, MacNichol E (1974) Visual Pigments of Goldfish Cones. The Journal of General Physiology
- Caves EM, Sutton TT, Johnsen S (2017) Visual acuity in ray-finned fishes correlates with eye size and habitat. J Exp Biol 220:1586-1596. Table S1.. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.151183
- Pita D, Moore BA, Tyrrell LP, Fernandez-Juricic E. 2015. Vision in two cyprinid fish: implications for collective behavior. PeerJ 3:e1113.. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1113
- species_v1:Schwab et al. 2001
- species_v1:Temple et al. 2010
- Froese R. & Pauly D. (eds). FishBase, snapshot v25.04 (morphmet, morphdat, species, families tables), distributed as parquet by C. Boettiger for rfishbase.. fishbase.org
- 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
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
- 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
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?