How does the red drum see?
The red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) is a fish in the order Perciformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Shallow-water fish tetrachromat.
Measured in this species: motion (flicker fusion). One measured dial: a value other than colour or sharpness is measured in this species; colour and sharpness are not measured here. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has 10 colour receptor classes, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 7.692 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 55 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about the same.[12][13]
- 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 10 receptor classes: 378 nm (UVS), 415 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 451.5 nm (SWS (blue)), 476 nm (SWS (blue)), 482 nm (MWS (green)), 505 nm (MWS (green)), 506 nm (MWS (green)), 534 nm (MWS (green)), 535 nm (MWS (green)), 566 nm (LWS (long)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Pseudotropheus acei (same order Perciformes) | Group default | [1][2] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Group default | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 7.692 cycles per degree median of 77 relatives in order Perciformes: Prionurus scalprum, Malakichthys wakiyae, Jaydia lineata, Petroscirtes variabilis, Carangoides bartholomaei, Carangoides equula | Group default | [3][4][5][6] |
| Field of view | Binocular overlap 32.85° group default: median of tier-A values in vision type V18 within phylum Chordata (2 species: Danio rerio, Notemigonus crysoleucas) | Group default | [7] |
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 mode of species-v1 relatives in order Perciformes: Toxotes jaculatrix | Group default | [8] |
| Fovea type ventrotemporal area (high rgc density) | Group default | [8] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V18 within phylum Chordata (224 species: Amphiprion ocellaris, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, Acanthurus bahianus, Acanthurus chirurgus, Acanthurus coeruleus… | Group default | [9][10] |
| Rods vs cones cone-dominated | Group default | [9][10] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 55 Hz median of 1 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [55.0]) | Measured | [11] |
Related animals
- Banded archerfish same vision type
- Yellowfin tuna same vision type
- Ambon damelfish same vision type
- American yellow perch same vision type
- Atlantic spadefish same vision type
- Barrier reef anemonefish 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
- 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
- Caves EM, Sutton TT, Warrant EJ, Johnsen S 2023. Measures and models of visual acuity in epipelagic and mesopelagic teleosts and elasmobranchs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. zenodo.org/records/8251016
- 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
- Stieb SM, de Busserolles F, Carleton KL, et al. (2019) A detailed investigation of the visual system and visual ecology of the Barrier Reef anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos. Sci Rep 9:16459
- 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: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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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?