How does the zebrafish see?
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) 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, field of view 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 0.59 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- Both eyes see the same 32.7° in front of it (binocular overlap), where depth is judged best.
- It stops seeing flicker at 32 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[8][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 4 receptor classes: 362 nm (UVS), 415 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 480 nm (MWS (green)), 561 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Measured (not re-verified) | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.59 cycles per degree median of 1 behavioural rows (method priority rule); acuity_cpd: larval/juvenile rows (adult rows used) set aside (labelled alternative: 0.871); acuity_cpd: dim-light rows (bright-light rows used) set aside (labelled… | Measured | [2] |
| Field of view | Binocular overlap 32.7° median of 1 rows (eyes-at-rest rows preferred) | Measured (not re-verified) | [3] |
| Eye placement lateral frontal if binocular overlap >= 60 deg, else lateral | Derived | [3] | |
| 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 | [4][5] |
| Fovea type ventrotemporal area (high rgc density) | Group default | [4][5] | |
| 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 | [6] |
| Rods vs cones cone-dominated | Group default | [6] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 32 Hz species-v1.csv | Measured (not re-verified) | [7] |
Related animals
- Goldfish 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
- Kirwan J. luxR 0.1.1: Underwater Light Analysis and Visual Ecology (R-universe), data species_sensitivities. github.com/JohnKirwan/luxR
- 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
- 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
- species_v1:Patterson et al. 2002 (via Lafitte et al. 2022)
- 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?