How, Martin J.Porter, Megan L.Radford, Andrew N.Feller, Kathryn D.Temple, Shelby E.Caldwell, Roy L.Marshall, N. JustinCronin, Thomas W.Roberts, Nicholas W.2019-04-112019-04-112014-07-09Martin J. How, Megan L. Porter, et.al, Out of the blue: the evolution of horizontally polarized signals in Haptosquilla (Crustacea, Stomatopoda, Protosquillidae), The Journal of Experimental Biology (2014) 217, 3425-3431, doi:10.1242/jeb.107581https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.107581http://hdl.handle.net/11603/13393The polarization of light provides information that is used by many animals for a number of different visually guided behaviours. Several marine species, such as stomatopod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs, communicate using visual signals that contain polarized information, content that is often part of a more complex multidimensional visual signal. In this work, we investigate the evolution of polarized signals in species of Haptosquilla, a widespread genus of stomatopod, as well as related protosquillids. We present evidence for a pre-existing bias towards horizontally polarized signal content and demonstrate that the properties of the polarization vision system in these animals increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal. Combining these results with the increase in efficacy that polarization provides over intensity and hue in a shallow marine environment, we propose a joint framework for the evolution of the polarized form of these complex signals based on both efficacy-driven (proximate) and content-driven (ultimate) selection pressures.7 pagesen-USThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.non-commercial use onlystomatopodmantis shrimppolarization visionsignal evolutionsensory biasmulti-modal signalText