30 as our understanding of what fish see expanded.
UV Light: The Science of Fish Sight
TYLER HICKS: PONDERAY, ID
We live in colorful world. If you look in your home and in the natural world around, you will find an infinite variety of colors on display. Compared to other mammals, humans have well developed color sensory abilities. The colors we detect are a product of the properties of the wavelengths of light reflected from the surfaces we are looking at. Longer wavelengths in the 700 nanometer( nm) range appear red to us and as those wavelengths shorten they become yellow, green, blue, and finally end at violet at around 400 nm in length. Longer wavelengths beyond 700 nm are described as infrared and beyond the visible spectrum of humans, as are shorter wavelengths below 400 nm that we classify as ultraviolet or UV light. For many years, anglers were only concerned with UV light in that these short high energy waves can damage our skin and retinas causing damage to our DNA and ultimately leading to cancer. This changed
30 as our understanding of what fish see expanded.
For many years, we assumed that many fish had limited vision primarily in the red and green portion of the visible spectrum. Through advances in the study of animal vision and color, we have now learned that many animals possess UV coloration and the ability to see into the UV spectrum … fish included. We now know that animals are using their UV color to identify and assess mate quality, predators, and most importantly to locate food and / or prey.
The importance of UV vision in fish is still a hotly contested topic among scientists and anglers alike. For instance, we know that young trout and salmon possess specialized UV sensitive cones in their eye during their juvenile life stages. Research has found that these juvenile fish are hyper-sensitive to UV and are using it to