Visual pigments are the light-absorbing molecules that mediate vision. They consist of an apoprotein, opsin, covalently linked to cis-retinal. In this lizard the color pigments are found in the rod-shaped photoreceptor cells which have been derived from ancestral cone-like photoreceptors. Phosphorylated on some or all of the serine and threonine residues present in the C-terminal region. Belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor 1 family. Opsin subfamily.