How does the red swamp crayfish see?
The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) is a crustacean in the order Decapoda. Its eyes belong to the vision type Crustacean (mantis shrimp, crab).
Measured in this species: colour and sharpness. 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 three colour receptor classes, like most people.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.37 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 56 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about the same.[8][9]
- Activity pattern: nocturnal.
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 3 receptor classes: 445 nm (SWS (blue)), 532.2 nm (MWS (green)), 575 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1][2][3] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.37 cycles per degree median of 1 compilation rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [4] |
| Angle between facets 1.6° median of 1 relatives in class Malacostraca: Phronima sedentaria | Group default | [5] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | Activity pattern nocturnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V27 within phylum Arthropoda (1 species: Ligia exotica) | Group default | [6] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | [6] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 56 Hz median of 1 relatives in family Cambaridae: Lacunicambarus diogenes | Estimated | [7] |
Other senses
- polarisation vision: optional overlay of degree/angle of linear polarisation (Group default)
Related animals
- Caridean shrimp same vision type
- American lobster same vision type
- Atlantic marsh fiddler same vision type
- Blue crab same vision type
- Crab same vision type
- Deep sea shrimp same vision type
More crustaceans: all crustaceans with measured vision data.
Sources
- Values stated in abstracts of PMC OA papers: 10.1085/jgp.54.5.636; 10.1007/s00114-021-01774-6; 10.1085/jgp.56.3.392; 10.1085/jgp.66.2.193; 10.1085/jgp.37.6.825; 10.1085/jgp.51.2.125. doi.org/10.1085/jgp.54.5.636
- Porter ML. Crustacean photoreceptor lambda max compilation, Table 1-1 (dissertation, "Porter_2005" in VPOD); extracted from PDF by VPOD with tabula. github.com/VisualPhysiologyDB/visual-physiology-opsin-db
- Porter ML et al. 2006 Table 1 (opsin accessions with lambda max; mostly cephalopod/arthropod) as extracted by VPOD. github.com/VisualPhysiologyDB/visual-physiology-opsin-db
- Feller KD, Sharkey CR, McDuffee-Altekruse A, Bracken-Grissom HD, Lord NP, Porter ML, Schweikert LE 2021. Surf and turf vision: patterns and predictors of visual acuity in compound eye evolution. Arthropod Structure & Development 60:101002. doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2020.101002
- Bagheri Z, Jessop A, Partridge J et al. 2022. A new computational model illuminates the extraordinary eyes of Phronima. PLOS Computational Biology. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010545
- 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
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- 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?