Difference Between Rods and Cones

Difference between rods and cones is a significant part of the knowledge of biology. Furthermore, rods facilitate vision at low light levels and have a low spatial acuity. In contrast, cones show activation at higher light levels and are responsible for high spatial acuity.

Definition of Rods

A rod refers to a photoreceptor cell that is of a specialized light-sensitive nature. Furthermore, its location is in the retina of the eye.  Moreover, rods provide side vision as well as night vision to facilitate seeing objects in dim light.

Definition of Cones

A cone refers to a photoreceptor cell that has the characteristic of being specialized light-sensitive. Furthermore, its location is in the retina of the eye and it provides sharp central vision as well as colour vision. This brings out the difference between rods and cones.

Difference between Rods and cones

Important difference between rods and cones

Parameter	Rods	Cones
Rods cells vs cone cells meaning	They are one of the photoreceptors that exist in the eye, which provide twilight vision. Furthermore, they have structures in the shape of rods	They are photoreceptors that are in a cone shape. Furthermore, they exist in the eye and are also fewer in number
Rods and cones location	Their location is usually around the retina’s boundary	Their location is usually in the retina’s centre
The shape of outer pigment or segment	The outer segment is cylindrical that has rhodopsin pigment. Moreover, its formation is from Vitamin A	The outer segment is conical that has iodopsin pigment
Amount	There are about 120 million out of 125 million photoreceptors present in the human eye	Cones number around 5 million
Colour vision	These cells lack colour vision. Moreover, they also lack any differentiation	These cells give colour vision. Furthermore, they are of three types: blue, red, and green
Disease or deficiency	Lack of rhodopsin may result in night blindness	Lack of iodopsin may result in colour blindness

FAQs About Rods and Cones

Question 1: Give any one difference between rods and cones?

Answer 1: One difference between rods and cones can be on the basis of location. Furthermore, the location of rods is usually around the retina’s boundary. In contrast, the location of cones is usually in the retina’s centre.

Question 2: What is the amount of rods present in the human eye?

Answer 2: There are about 120 million rods out of 125 million photoreceptors existing in the human eye.