Adaptation (eye) opsin photopigment. The various cone cells are maximally sensitive to either short wavelengths (blue light), medium wavelengths (green light), or long wavelengths (red light). Rod photoreceptors only contain one type of photopigment, rhodopsin, which has a peak sensitivity at a wavelength of approximately 530 nanometers which corresponds to blue-green light. A minor mechanism of adaptation is the pupillary light reflex, adjusting the amount of light that reaches the retina. In response to varying ambient light levels, rods and cones of eye function both in isolation and in tandem to adjust the visual system. Changes in the sensitivity of rods and
Eye cells used for vision: the rods and the cones. Rods cannot distinguish colours, but are responsible for low-light (scotopic) monochrome (black-and-white) vision; they work well in dim light as they contain a pigment, rhodopsin (visual purple), which is sensitive at low light intensity, but saturates at higher (photopic) intensities. Rods are distributed throughout the retina but there are none at the fovea and none at the blind spot. Rod density is greater in the peripheral retina than in the central retina. Cones are responsible for colour vision. They require brighter light to function than rods require. In humans, there are