Spotted catsharks (S. canicula, S. stellaris)

Catsharks represent some of the earliest diverging lineages of jawed vertebrates we can study in the lab. By examining how visual circuits are organised in this lineage, we can gain insight into how vertebrate visual systems may have looked early in evolution. They provide an important reference point for understanding which features of neural circuits are ancient and which evolved later.

Zebrafish (Danio Rerio)

Zebrafish are one of the best experimental model systems for studying the vertebrate brain. As small, diurnal fish that live near the water surface, key aspects of their ecology and size resembles those thought to represent our earliest vertebrate ancestors. Combined with powerful genetic tools and excellent experimental access, this makes zebrafish a key species for dissecting ‘ancestral-like’ visual circuits.

Danionella (D. cerebrum)

Danionella are tiny relatives of zebrafish that remain transparent even as adults. This unusual feature allows us to directly image neural activity across the brain in living adult animals. Because they share many genetic tools with zebrafish but live in somewhat different sensory environments, they provide a powerful system for linking neural circuits, behaviour, and ecology.

Lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus)

Seahorses represent an extreme visual specialist among fishes. As ambush predators, they rely on highly precise vision and possess specialised retinal regions that enhance visual acuity. Studying seahorses helps us understand how neural circuits evolve in response to very specific ecological demands.

African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus laevis)

Xenopus frogs provide excellent experimental access and powerful genetic tools. They are also fascinating because their visual behaviour changes dramatically across development: tadpoles are filter feeders, while adult frogs become visually guided ambush predators. This allows us to study how visual circuits adapt as animals transition between very different lifestyles.

Chicken (Gallus gallus dom.)

The chicken retina is one of the best-understood visual systems in birds, and in the we are developing new approaches to study their retinas, including large-scale electrophysiology and viral tools for functional imaging. 

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

Zebra finches provide a complementary bird model that represents small, fast-flying songbirds. Their visual system must support the demands of flight, navigation, and complex behaviours in a three-dimensional world. Studying them helps us understand how visual circuits are adapted to the challenges of being a flying bird.

Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)

Cuttlefish belong to the cephalopods, a group that evolved sophisticated camera-like eyes independently of vertebrates. Despite their similar appearance, their visual systems are built from very different biological components. Studying cuttlefish allows us to ask whether similar visual capabilities arise through similar neural circuit solutions.

Alciopids (aka. “Zebra-worms”)

Alciopids are marine polychaete worms that also evolved camera-type eyes independently of both vertebrates and cephalopods. These tiny animals have surprisingly sophisticated visual systems despite their distant evolutionary relationship to us. By studying them, we can explore how complex eyes and visual circuits arise in very different branches of the animal tree.

Water fleas (Daphnia magna)

Daphnia produce dormant eggs that can remain preserved in lake sediments for decades before hatching again when conditions allow. By reviving these “time-travelling” animals, we can directly compare nervous systems from different points in evolutionary time. This gives us a rare opportunity to study how neural circuits change across generations rather than inferring those changes indirectly.

>1,000 frozen eyes

Our frozen eye tissue bank contains several thousand eyes from a wide range of vertebrate species, alongside a smaller collection of fixed specimens. Much of this unique resource was inherited from Prof. Leo Peichl when he retired, and we are continuing to expand it as an active research collection. In collaboration with London Zoo and other partners, we are adding new species to broaden the phylogenetic diversity represented in the bank. This growing resource allows us to explore retinal anatomy and molecular organisation across far more species than could ever be maintained in the lab.