The primary visual system of flatfish: an evolutionary perspective

The retinal projections of two species of flatfish (Scophthalmus maximus, Scophthalmidae; Platichthys flesus, Pleuronectidae) were investigated by autoradiography and by a HRP technique. Contralateral projections to five hypothalamic centres (area optica preoptica ventralis, nucleus opticus preopticus parvocellularis posterior pars lateralis, n. suprachiasmaticus, n. opticus hypothalami ventromedialis and area optica hypothalami posterior), thirteen thalamo-pretectal centres (nucleus opticus dorsolateralis (partes medialis, ventralis and lateralis), n. opticus ventrolateralis, n. opticus commissurae posterioris (partes dorsalis and ventralis), n. opticus accessorius, n. geniculatus lateralis mesencephali, nn. opticus pretectalis dorsalis, medialis and ventralis and n. corticalis), three layers of the optic tectum (stratum opticum pars externa, stratum fibrosum et griseum superficiale, stratum album centrale), and a single target in the tegmentum (n. opticus tegmenti mesencephali dorsalis), were identified in both species. Interspecific variation of the contralateral visual projections is relatively small. Ipsilateral visual projections of fibres which recross the midline in the minor and transverse commissures were also identified; in S. maximus this ipsilateral contingent is poorly developed and concerns principally hypothalamic structures, while in P. flesus the ipsilateral projections are considerably more extensive and involve both hypothalamic and thalamo-pretectal primary visual centres. No differences in the projections from the fixed and from the migrated eye were observed in either species. The findings are discussed in the general context of the existing literature on the visual projections of teleosts, in an attempt to characterize the primary visual system of the Pleuronectiformes in an evolutionary context.