Hello guys
I am going to assume this is actually a question which no body will ever be able to answer with 100% accuracy... but thought it would be interesting to get some input from those who may have more knowledge than myself on tarantula vision.
I was enjoying taking some night time pictures earlier of some of my tarantulas and true spiders, especially my new Phoneutria. I find the depth and contrast from night time pictures with a flash can be a lot more dramatic than those taken under natural light, and it can often really bring out a spiders colours...
After taking some up close shots, I found myself almost muttering an apology to the spiders after I set the flash off in their face.
This is obviously a natural thing to do should I have been photographing humans, as it takes us a while to adjust to our night vision, and a sudden camera flash in our eyes can screw up what little night vision we do have!
from Wikipedia...
'In biological night vision, molecules of rhodopsin in the rods of the eye undergo a change in shape as they absorb light. Rhodopsin is the chemical that allows night-vision, and is extremely sensitive to light. Exposed to a spectrum of light, the pigment immediately bleaches, and it takes about 30 minutes to regenerate fully, but most of the adaptation occurs within the first five or ten minutes in the dark.'
I know spiders eyes work COMPLETELY differently from ours, but it did leave me wondering, can bright lights do any serious damage to a spiders eyes? I am aware tarantulas have basic vision, and to be honest I would imagine a completely blind tarantula would probably function as well as a fully sighted one (not that I would intentionally blind one obviously!!)
But then what about jumping spiders/ wolf spiders etc and all those species which have far better vision?
I did abit of research and found this...
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-beginners-corner-q/179204-could-i-blind-spider-2.html
I understand that although quite a seemingly dramatic event, all a camera flash is, is a quick change from dark to light and then back again. By the time the animal knows what's hit it, its back in the 'safety' of the dark again.
Light itself has no vibration, no smell, no substance..... so why would it be perceived as a threat... they don't know that the cause of that quick change in lighting is a great big mammal standing over it!
but is there no limit? if I shone a low wattage laser into the eye of a jumping spider all day, or constantly set off the flash in its face would there really be no cell damage at all?
I am going to assume this is actually a question which no body will ever be able to answer with 100% accuracy... but thought it would be interesting to get some input from those who may have more knowledge than myself on tarantula vision.
I was enjoying taking some night time pictures earlier of some of my tarantulas and true spiders, especially my new Phoneutria. I find the depth and contrast from night time pictures with a flash can be a lot more dramatic than those taken under natural light, and it can often really bring out a spiders colours...
After taking some up close shots, I found myself almost muttering an apology to the spiders after I set the flash off in their face.
This is obviously a natural thing to do should I have been photographing humans, as it takes us a while to adjust to our night vision, and a sudden camera flash in our eyes can screw up what little night vision we do have!
from Wikipedia...
'In biological night vision, molecules of rhodopsin in the rods of the eye undergo a change in shape as they absorb light. Rhodopsin is the chemical that allows night-vision, and is extremely sensitive to light. Exposed to a spectrum of light, the pigment immediately bleaches, and it takes about 30 minutes to regenerate fully, but most of the adaptation occurs within the first five or ten minutes in the dark.'
I know spiders eyes work COMPLETELY differently from ours, but it did leave me wondering, can bright lights do any serious damage to a spiders eyes? I am aware tarantulas have basic vision, and to be honest I would imagine a completely blind tarantula would probably function as well as a fully sighted one (not that I would intentionally blind one obviously!!)
But then what about jumping spiders/ wolf spiders etc and all those species which have far better vision?
I did abit of research and found this...
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-beginners-corner-q/179204-could-i-blind-spider-2.html
I understand that although quite a seemingly dramatic event, all a camera flash is, is a quick change from dark to light and then back again. By the time the animal knows what's hit it, its back in the 'safety' of the dark again.
Light itself has no vibration, no smell, no substance..... so why would it be perceived as a threat... they don't know that the cause of that quick change in lighting is a great big mammal standing over it!
but is there no limit? if I shone a low wattage laser into the eye of a jumping spider all day, or constantly set off the flash in its face would there really be no cell damage at all?
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