Visual pigments are the light-absorbing molecules that mediate vision. They consist of an apoprotein, opsin, covalently linked to cis-retinal. May play a role in photoperiodic photoreception. Expressed bilaterally in dorsal and ventral anterior protocerebral cells and bilaterally in the dorsal posterior protocerebral and lateral posterior tritocerebral cells (at protein level). Expressed in the larval brain but not in the subesophageal ganglion or thoracic ganglion. Belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor 1 family. Opsin subfamily.