John Lythgoe was one of the pioneers of the 'Ecology of Vision', a subject that he ably delineated in his classic and inspirational book published some 20 years ago 1]. At heart, the original book aimed generally to identify inter-relationships between vision, animal behaviour and the environment. John Lythgoe excelled at identifying the interesting 'questions' in the ecology of an animal that fitted the 'answers' presented by an analysis of the visual system. Over the last twenty years, however, since Lythgoe's landmark publication, much progress has been made and the field has broadened...

This comprehensive work reviews the neurobiological organisation of the vertebrate outer retina with an emphasis on mammalian systems. An international team of contributors discuss the ways in which outer retinal neurones and their interconnections are disrupted in clinical conditions.