Conditioned vocalizations as a technique for determining visual acuity thresholds in sea lions.

Aerial visual acuity and underwater visual acuity were measured in two sea lions (Zalophus californianus) by training them to emit click bursts if they saw a striped target or to remain silent if they saw a gray target. The closest grating spacings that could be resolved both in air and under water subtended a visual angle of 5.5 minutes of arc at a distance of 5.5 meters.