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Do fish see in colour

Yes fish see color. In many cases thought, they only see certain colors, and not all of them. Kinda like humans, as we cannot see ultra-violet, but birds and insects can.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Very definitely. Indeed, quite a bit of research into African Cichlid behaviour only makes sense if they can see colour. I could dig out the requisite article from New Scientist for you if you like ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

They do see in color, but as suggested, they can't see certain colors. I believe red and blue lights (like moonlighting) aren't seen by fish.

I think it was suggested that you could wrap red plastic wrap over the lens of a flashlight to peer into your tank at night and the fish wouldn't see it. Something like that. Don't quote me on that, but it's an interesting idea.

Interesting now that I think about it... red and teal lights are the colors that won't hurt your nightvision, thus the reason why dashboard lights are those colors in cars.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

leongreenway

When I was very heavly in to Fly Fishing and making my own Flys. I attended a lecture on a very similar topic and it was discovered/thought that they only saw one colour and many shades of the same colour and that was from a light grey to a very deep black.

Red was considered to be at the top of the Black end.

This was basically for FW trout and could vary for other species in much later research.

Keith

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kool, so there colour blind in a way

Er, not quite. Bactrack to my first post above.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I believe fish can see the color red. Red Tailed Sharks are known for being aggressive towards a lot of different types of fish, but there are quite a few people who believe that they have a tendency to attack those decorated with the color red. I don't specifically believe this train of thought, but I have ehard it from numerous sources...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

In the case of Red Tailed Black Sharks, I think they will act aggressively toward fishes that resemble them in shape too.

As for colour sense, the research I mentioned cited various African Cichlids species, whose females would only choose males of a specific colour - one species chose blue males, another yellow, etc. When the aquarium containing them was lit in such a way as to eliminate the colour distinctions, the females then chose the males that were the largest to mate with. Once the lighting was restored to natural daylight or its equivalent, the females regained their colour preferences, and ignored the wrong colour males even if they were bigger than the right colour males.

So, at least among African Cichlids (as covered in New Scientist) colour sense is pretty well developed. Whether the fishes see with the same detail resolution as humans is a moot point, but they certainly possess the colour receptors in the retina required to make pretty fine colour distinctions.

Of course, the colour receptor populations of the retinas of different species may vary. But colour receptors are present. The only major exceptions I can find in the literature to date are those fishes whose eyes have atrophied as a result of living in lightless caves for thousands of generations such as the Blind Cave Characin (a population of Astyanax mexicanus, formerly known as Anophthichthys jordani).


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

no offense but i think thats kinda of a wierd question.... i mean why would fish have bright colors if the female cant see them??? again no offense

none taken mate, it sort of popped into my mind and i started typing. some insects and amphibians are brightly coloured to warn predators of their poison, they dont necessarily see in colour..

I've also heard of clown loaches trying to school with Tiger Barbs. The only explanation that makes sense is that they see some of the similar coloring.

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They shade the glow of it with their mossy-misty costumes,
They wear masks of silk, porcelain, brass, and silver,
So as not to mislead with their own, ordinary faces.

Yeah, um, that red lighting thing is quite false. Moonlighting is mothing more that blue LED. In any very low light conditions, where the majority of the spectrum is blocked out, nocturnal fish will ascend from their lairs. This being said, MANY fish carry the color red as display coloration between genders.