How does the box jellyfish see?
The box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) is a animal in the order Carybdeida. Its eyes belong to the vision type Primitive and mirror eyes.
Measured in this species: colour and motion (flicker fusion). Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has one receptor class for colour, so it sees brightness but no hue.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.08 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 9.8 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[4][5]
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 1 receptor class: 467.5 nm (SWS (blue)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.08 cycles per degree group default: median of tier-A values in vision type V29 within phylum Cnidaria (1 species: Copula sivickisi) | Group default | [2] |
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 9.8 Hz median of 1 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [8.0, 9.75, 10.0]) | Measured | [3] |
Related animals
- Bay scallop same vision type
- Great Atlantic scallop same vision type
More other: all other with measured vision data.
Sources
- Murphy MJ, Westerman EL. 2022. Evolutionary history limits species' ability to match colour sensitivity to available habitat light. Proc R Soc B 289:20220612. Electronic supplementary Table S1. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0612
- Garm A, Bielecki J, Petie R, Nilsson DE. 2016. Hunting in bioluminescent light: vision in the nocturnal box jellyfish Copula sivickisi. Front Physiol 7:99
- 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?