Mantis Shrimp

[PaulineMi]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

[Mugwump]

Now that's interesting....I'm somewhat a child of the 60's, and I've seen some colors...but wow, can you imagine.....HMMmmmm.....zounds!!!!!!!

[PaulineMi]

Lol.....me too.     

It would be interesting to somehow have the colors they see reproduced.  It would seem like there's some kind of computer program that could do it.

[ilroost]

Very interesting

[wsantia1]

Wow!!!

[Mugwump]

Lol.....me too.     

It would be interesting to somehow have the colors they see reproduced.  It would seem like there's some kind of computer program that could do it.

What good would it do if our own vision won't allow for seeing it...??..they see colors that are beyond our capabilities....wow...

[BillT]

I believe mantis shrimp vision was discussed in a Radiolab podcast, probably this one: http://www.radiolab.org/2012/may/21/.

Lol.....me too.     

    It would be interesting to somehow have the colors they see reproduced.  It would seem like there's some kind of computer program that could do it.


What good would it do if our own vision won't allow for seeing it...??..they see colors that are beyond our capabilities....wow...

Mug's right. You would not really be able to see the colors that the mantis shrimp sees.
Color is something that is created in your brain so you can make better use of your sensory information.
Other brains (brains with drastically different structures and functioning) will have different internal displays. This has to do with one's consciousness residing in the information flow in your brain. You can use words to describe it but no one else can see it.

On the other hand there are optical tricks and computer tricks to show the information that something like the mantis shrimp see. These would be ways to take a picture using light from the different frequencies. If only frequency differences are important, you would get pictures showing things in the UV or infrared ranges. These are basically false color images.

There are also other photoreceptors that can do things like sense polarized light orientations. This would show up in reflected light, such as the shimmery (metalic) colors on the shrimp as well as reflections off the surface of water. Some birds use this to tell where the sun is if the sky is overcast.

What would this look like to us? It might blend together as inputs we get from our 4 types (R, G, B, and rods (wide spectrum)) of photoreceptors to produce our perception of color. Maybe to would be something different like a textural overlay (an overlay with differing textures but not affecting the colors). Our visual system's perception of the metalic colors of fluorescent colors seems to be through making certain colors brighter than they would normally be.

[PaulineMi]

 So true Jon and Bill.  It's like man's desire to fly like a bird yet, having achieved flight, it is never completely  like the bird's experience.