IMHO - and I'm not a marine biologist or an optometrist - considering the eye of the salmon is one of the first organs to develop while the fish still in the embryonic stage (think "eyed-up") and the size of the eye in a salmon is very large in relationship to the rest of it's body at birth and during the fry and smolt stage, it must be a relatively important organ, at least during those stages. If that was not the case, then they wouldn't devote so much energy to it's development early on in their lifecycle.
Here's some info from DFO that describes a salmon's eye structure (I know, I know, what do they know?).
http://www.ccac.ca/en/CCAC_Programs/ETCC/dfo/1_Salmonid_Anatomy_Physiology.pdf
A good point made in this guide is the fact that salmon stop feeding after dark. So, if light and vision were not important, why would they stop feeding after the light is gone?
And from a freshwater marine biologist, the claim that goldfish have some of the best distance vision of all fish at 15 feet;
http://www.rivercare.org/news/articles_detail.php?id=280. So, if 15 feet is as good as it gets in freshwater...
Now the question is; Since salmon, including chinook, are anadromous, do they see better in freshwater or saltwater and how do they manage their vision when transitioning?
One last question; Why do we call a flasher a flasher if it is intended to create a vibration? Why don't we call it a vibrator?
The devil made me do it!!! Just couldn't pass it by.......BB
