Retinal Anatomy of New Bresiliid Shrimp from the Lucky Strike and Broken Spur Hydrothermal Vent Fields on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Abstract

The 1989 discovery of a large dorsal eye on the hydrothermal vent shrimp,Rimicaris exoculata, debunked the prevailing opinion that all animals living around deep hydrothermal vents were blind. Recent dives with DSV ‘Alvin’ recovered new bresiliid shrimp [Chorocaris(Lucky Strike) andChorocaris(Broken Spur)] from two new vent fields on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Lucky Strike species has recently been namedChorocaris fortunataand may be the same as the Broken Spur species - the retinal morphologies reported here are very similar. LikeR. exoculata, C. fortunatahas a visual apparatus adapted to the very dim light of its environment. Although in both species enlarged, non-imaging eyes appear to have evolved from the stalked compound eyes typical of caridean shrimp, those of C.fortunataare forward-facing whilst that ofR. exoculatais located dorsally. The massive array of photosensitive membrane (rhabdom) ofC. fortunatalies beneath a smooth cornea within a matt, white, reflecting matrix and occupies 80% of the available volume of the photoreceptors compared to the expected 10–15% of shallow water decapods. All screening pigment is located out of the light path at the bottom of the retina. There is no ultrastructural evidence for cyclic rhabdom shedding or renewal. Thus the cellular organization of C.fortunatais remarkably similar to that ofR. exoculataand distinct from its surface-dwelling relatives. This suggests that in these species imaging optics have been sacrificed to achieve the increased visual sensitivity necessary to detect the very dim light emitted from the throats of the black smoker chimneys around which they live