are bass color blind?

[aNNieNsaLTIE]

i was watching a video from a aqua vu camera and was wondering. are bass or fish color blind?

saLTIE-

[MikeD]

from http://www.bassintips.com/bassseecolors.html :

Bass evolved along a totally different path than humans. From an evolution standpoint there is no similarity between how a human thinks and a bass thinks. There is little similarity in how a bass hears and a human hears, and we have to be careful when we are comparing how a bass sees and how humans see. Bass eyes evolved to see in water. Human eyes evolved to see in air. But there are striking similarities in how a bass eye works and how a human eye works.
Cones see colors; rods see things in shades of gray. As best we can determine, a bass sees colors much as a human sees colors. We think this is true because bass eyes have cones very similar to the cones in human eyes. But here is one huge difference: A human eye has a pupil, a bass's eye has no pupil. In bright light the human pupil closes down. In dim light the human pupil opens up.


But, since a bass eye has no pupil, it adjusts to brightness by repositioning rods. In bright light a bass sees with cones with almost all of its rods being hidden behind cones. As the light dims more and more rods are positioned for sight. In really dim light cones are less effective and the bass sees primarily with rods. Thus, in really dim light a bass sees in black and white. And a bass's eye has better (and many more) rods than does a human eye. Thus it sees in dim light much, much better than does a human.
Remember: cones see colors; rods see shades of gray. This means that in shallow and clear water a bass sees in vivid colors, but in deeper dingy water it sees dull colors but mostly it sees shades of gray. A bass can see six or seven times better than a human, but most of this increased visual acuity is in dim light. In other words, most of this increased vision is in black-and-white.

[Marty]

Mike,

I’m impressed – I have been asking that question of top Pros and not one has come back with answer! Thanks

[kylebass91]

None of the Pros can tell you this but everyone know in dingy water a darker color and in clearer water the brighter more translucent colors after reading that makes a lot of sence

[MikeD]

marty, I can cut and paste with the best of them...

[Marty]

Mike,

Your link is not working above

[aNNieNsaLTIE]

Guys,

After watching that little video clip of a aqua vu, i really thing instead of always thinking color i should think shades and tones when deciding on color for bait/lures.

Just go to youtube.com and type aqua vu. choose one of the many videos. it opened my mind alot.

saLTIE-

[MikeD]

Mike,

Your link is not working above

try now, I left a ':' at the end of the link that shouldn't have been there, fixed it up, good to go