How does the swordfish see?
The swordfish (Xiphias gladius) is a fish in the order Perciformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Shark, ray and warm-eyed ocean predator.
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.
See your photo as the swordfishThis species is part of the full catalogue in the tool (full unlock). Your photo stays on your device.
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.
- It stops seeing flicker at 22 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[10][9]
- 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 | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 mode of species-v1 relatives in order Perciformes: Toxotes jaculatrix | Group default | [7] |
| Fovea type ventrotemporal area (high rgc density) | Group default | [7] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal mode of 222 relatives in order Perciformes: Acanthurus chirurgus, Acanthurus coeruleus, Acanthurus lineatus, Acanthurus triostegus, Ctenochaetus striatus, Zebrasoma veliferum | Group default | [8] |
| Rods vs cones cone-dominated | Group default | [8] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 22 Hz median of 1 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [22.0]) | Measured | [9] |
Related animals
- Brownbanded bamboo shark same vision type
- Scalloped hammerhead shark same vision type
- Australian ghostshark same vision type
- Blacknose shark same vision type
- Blacktip reef shark same vision type
- Bonnethead 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
- 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
- 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?