Building Color Vision in the Fruitfly Eye

Random distribution of green and blue photoreceptors in the retina of a fruitfly. This retina was stained with antibodies against blue or green sensitive photopigments. It highlights the random distribution of two classes of photoreceptor cells, but with a constant ratio of 30 percent blue to 70 percent green. A similar random spatial distribution exists in humans between blue, green, and red cone photoreceptors.