Evolutionary remodeling of the ventral retina enables aerial vision in the four-eyed fish Anableps anableps
Abstract
The emergence of evolutionary novelties remains a central challenge in biology, particularly for complex organs such as the vertebrate eye. Here, we use the four-eyed fish Anableps anableps to investigate adaptation to simultaneous aerial and aquatic vision. Single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomics reveal that the ventral retina, which processes aerial light, is developmentally expanded and exhibits region-specific opsin expression. Ventral PR1 cones express opn1mw2 rather than the longer-wavelength-sensitive opn1lw paralogs expressed dorsally. Machine-learning predictions indicate that Opn1mw2 is red-shifted relative to Opn1mw1 but remains blue-shifted relative to dorsal Opn1lw pigments. Dorsal-ventral patterning markers further reveal an overrepresentation of ventral retinal identities. Comparative spatial profiling of developing and adult Anableps and killifish indicates dorsal displacement of the retinal boundary, producing a proportionally larger ventral domain. Thus, Anableps evolved aerial vision through developmental expansion of the ventral retina and regional reconfiguration of opsin expression within conserved cone subtypes.
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BibTeX
@article{perez2026evolutionary,
title = {{Evolutionary remodeling of the ventral retina enables aerial vision in the four-eyed fish Anableps anableps}},
author = {Louise Perez and Lina Shi and Alyssa Daspit and Keyla N. Pruett and Carsyn Smith and Anna Prideaux and Josane F. Sousa and Patricia N. Schneider},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78775-4},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78775-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Evolutionary remodeling of the ventral retina enables aerial vision in the four-eyed fish Anableps anableps
AU - Louise Perez
AU - Lina Shi
AU - Alyssa Daspit
AU - Keyla N. Pruett
AU - Carsyn Smith
AU - Anna Prideaux
AU - Josane F. Sousa
AU - Patricia N. Schneider
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78775-4
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78775-4
AB - The emergence of evolutionary novelties remains a central challenge in biology, particularly for complex organs such as the vertebrate eye. Here, we use the four-eyed fish Anableps anableps to investigate adaptation to simultaneous aerial and aquatic vision. Single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomics reveal that the ventral retina, which processes aerial light, is developmentally expanded and exhibits region-specific opsin expression. Ventral PR1 cones express opn1mw2 rather than the longer-wavelength-sensitive opn1lw paralogs expressed dorsally. Machine-learning predictions indicate that Opn1mw2 is red-shifted relative to Opn1mw1 but remains blue-shifted relative to dorsal Opn1lw pigments. Dorsal-ventral patterning markers further reveal an overrepresentation of ventral retinal identities. Comparative spatial profiling of developing and adult Anableps and killifish indicates dorsal displacement of the retinal boundary, producing a proportionally larger ventral domain. Thus, Anableps evolved aerial vision through developmental expansion of the ventral retina and regional reconfiguration of opsin expression within conserved cone subtypes.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -