Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Lens Transplantation in Zebrafish and its Application in the Analysis of Eye Mutants
Published on: June 1, 2009
Central role for the lens in cave fish eye degeneration
1Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-4415, USA.
Abstract:
Astyanax mexicanus is a teleost with eyed surface-dwelling and eyeless cave-dwelling forms. Eye formation is initiated in cave fish embryos, but the eye subsequently arrests and degenerates. The surface fish lens stimulates growth and development after transplantation into the cave fish optic cup, restoring optic tissues lost during cave fish evolution. Conversely, eye growth and development are retarded following transplantation of a surface fish lens into a cave fish optic cup or lens extirpation. These results show that evolutionary changes in an inductive signal from the lens are involved in cave fish eye degeneration.
Related Concept Videos
Anatomy of the Eyeball
Focusing of Light in the Eye

