New twists in the evolution of retinal direction selectivity.

In mammals, starburst amacrine cells are centrally involved in motion vision and a new study in PLOS Biology, by Yan and colleagues finds that zebrafish have them, too. They coexist with a second pair of starburst-like neurons, but neither appears to be strongly motion selective. In mammals, starburst amacrine cells are centrally involved in motion vision. This primer explores the implications of a PLOS Biology study reporting that zebrafish have amacrine cells, too, and revealing that these cells coexist with a second pair of starburst-like neurons, but neither appears to be strongly motion selective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]