This

... I don't feel it's in any way meaningful ...

is an intrinsic feature of the problem, because to be able to express the visible range as a fraction of the EM spectrum, you need a measure on the latter, and there is no natural way to do this.

The closest you can get is to assign a measure that is uniform in logarithmic scale, with long- and short-wavelength cutoffs at the size of the universe and at the Planck energy, but that essentially implies that there is an equal amount of interesting phenomena happening at photon energies vastly larger than anything than we've ever had access to, as in the ranges where we do have access, as well as a large almost-bottomless well of wavelengths that don't even fit inside our own galaxy. Physics, of course, doesn't care ─ but we, as humans, do.

All of which is to say: there is no unique answer that comes from physics. If you want an answer that's relevant to humans, then you should base your measure on cutoffs which come from human considerations. I would personally go with a logarithmically uniform measure with cutoffs at about (about the highest energies we can reach in particle accelerators, hence about the highest gamma photon energies we can control) and at about (from the ELF radio band). But, again, that's ultimately a subjective choice.

Answer from Emilio Pisanty on Stack Exchange
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Ray Cannon's Nature Notes
rcannon992.com › 2019 › 03 › 17 › dragonfly-eyes
Dragonfly eyes – Ray Cannon's nature notes
December 10, 2024 - We humans like to think that our eyesight is pretty good, and thanks to our large brains it is, but we rely on just three opsin genes, which means that we have three photoreceptors (cones), sensitive to blue, green and red light. So we can see across a colour spectrum from red to violet, but not ultraviolet (UV). If I now mention that dragonflies have between fifteen and 33 opsin genes, that gives some idea of just how good their vision may be!
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PubMed Central
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC11750933
Polarized vision in the eyes of the most effective predators
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Brainly
brainly.com › chemistry › middle school › what percentage of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible light?
[FREE] What percentage of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible light? - brainly.com
April 29, 2019 - Visible light is a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths from about 380 nm to 750 nm. This range represents approximately 0.0035% of the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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New Scientist
newscientist.com › home › dragonfly eyes see the world in ultra-multicolour
Dragonfly eyes see the world in ultra-multicolour | New Scientist
February 23, 2015 - Do all those extra opsins mean dragonflies see the rainbow differently to us? Probably. Other studies have found that dragonflies can see ultraviolet on top of blue, green and red. And it is thought that they can recognise polarised light coming off reflective surfaces like water.
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Georgianbaybiosphere
georgianbaybiosphere.com › eyes-see-what-you-did-there
Eyes See What You Did There | Georgian Bay Biosphere
March 27, 2021 - Dragonflies need to be able to see all around them so they can watch for their insect prey as they zip around in the sky.
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VailDaily
vaildaily.com › news › curious-nature-how-insects-see-the-world
How bees see flowers clearly and why dragonflies have some of the most complex eyesight in the world | VailDaily.com
July 29, 2023 - Whereas humans see color on a spectrum from red to violet, bees see on a spectrum of orange to ultraviolet. ... This UV sight helps honeybees to see their flowers more clearly. Many wildflowers have evolved to have rings of UV light around their centers that are not visible to humans. For honeybees, the UV rings are a bright spotlight telling them exactly where they need to go. Some species of dragonflies are able to see infinitely more colors than the human brain can comprehend.
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Benweb 3.3
benkolstad.net › home › nature › insects › dragonflies: eyes and a face
Dragonflies: eyes and a face - Benweb 3.3 -
May 11, 2013 - (Those RGB color values don’t correspond exactly to the peak sensitivity of each opsin, but, meh… close enough). Diurnal (day-flying) dragonflies, on the other hand, have as many as five opsins in their visual reception apparatus, giving them access to a much greater range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Ray Cannon's Nature Notes
rcannon992.com › 2025 › 01 › 25 › dragonfly-vision-and-prey-catching
Dragonfly vision and prey catching – Ray Cannon's nature notes
April 26, 2025 - Dragonflies probably have the best vision in the insect world. Their large compound eyes are made up of up to 30,000 facets (or ommatidia), arranged in different zones, and with many more photoreceptor types than us humans! They also have near 360°, wrap-around vision, and sensitivity across a broad spectral range, from UV to red.…
Find elsewhere
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Africa Check
africacheck.org › home › kenya › meta programme fact-checks › people can only see 1% of the visible light spectrum? no, it’s visible – we can see all of it
People can only see 1% of the visible light spectrum? No, it’s VISIBLE – we can see all of it - Africa Check
November 16, 2022 - The visible light spectrum gets its name from the fact that people can see all of it, not just 1%. And it makes up only 0.0035% of the total electromagnetic spectrum – again, not 1%.
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Biology Insights
biologyinsights.com › what-does-a-dragonfly-see-a-look-beyond-human-vision
What Does a Dragonfly See? A Look Beyond Human Vision - Biology Insights
August 22, 2025 - Dragonflies perceive a broader light spectrum than humans, including invisible wavelengths. Unlike humans, who rely on three opsin types (red, green, blue), dragonflies can have up to 30.
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Anatomy To You
anatomytoyou.com › 2016 › 02 › 23 › dragonfly-eyes-detect-up-to-30-different-colours
Dragonfly eyes detect up to 30 different ‘colours’
February 23, 2016 - The wavelengths that different animals can see varies quite considerably, and this broadly depends on how many different opsins (a light-reactive protein found across the animal kingdom) are expressed from the animal’s genome which detect different wavelengths of light. Humans and most primates have three, birds usually have four, and some snakes have just two. However, it was recently discovered by Ryo Futahashi and colleagues that some species of dragonflies have up to 33 different opsin genes in their genomes!
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Facebook
facebook.com › groups › jameswebbspacetelescope › posts › 10160893051641170
What percentage of the total light spectrum can JWST see?
Popular groups · Find communities for you · Over 1 billion people across the globe are using Facebook Groups to explore their favorite topics · Log in · Categories · Science & tech · Travel · Animals · Sports & fitness · Entertainment
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Quora
quora.com › Compared-to-a-human-how-well-can-dragonflies-see
Compared to a human, how well can dragonflies see? - Quora
Answer (1 of 3): Dragonflies have exceptional vision compared to humans. Their compound eyes consist of thousands of individual lenses called ommatidia, allowing them to detect movement, see in various directions simultaneously, and perceive polarized light. Additionally, dragonflies can see ultr...
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Swansea University
swansea.ac.uk › science › news › thevisualcommunicationofdragonflies.php
The visual communication of dragonflies
The team, which includes Dr Wendy Harris, Dr Dan Forman and Professor Paul Brain from the Department of Biosciences, Milton Keynes-based Roy and Marie Battell, and Alan Nelson, the dragonfly county recorder for Buckinghamshire with the British Dragonfly Society, report many animals have a different visual range to humans and can see into the infra red and ultra violet spectrum, outside human limits of perception. As such, it is sometimes easy for us to overlook this ability when considering the behaviour and communication of animals. Dragonflies are efficient predators, both as nymphs and adults, and rely on their well-developed visual system to detect and capture their prey.
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Phys.org
phys.org › news › 2026-04-dragonflies-humans-red-wavelengths-nm.html
Dragonflies share humans' red-light sensing trick, detecting wavelengths near 720 nm
April 9, 2026 - Dragonflies possess a red-sensitive opsin capable of detecting light near 720 nm, a mechanism molecularly identical to mammalian red opsins, indicating parallel evolution. This sensitivity enables dragonflies to distinguish sexes via differences ...
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Medium
grrlscientist.medium.com › 30-000-facets-give-dragonflies-a-different-perspective-the-big-compound-eye-in-the-sky-f97c5aa814fd
30,000 Facets Give Dragonflies A Different Perspective: The Big Compound Eye In The Sky | by 𝐆𝐫𝐫𝐥𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭, scientist & journalist | Medium
October 16, 2018 - Dusk-active dragonflies have sacrificed most of their color vision in favor of increased light-collecting capacity by having fewer, larger facets in their eyes. They also lack all color sensitive opsins except green, which provides the broadest range of light sensitivity for any opsin.
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MadSciNet
madsci.org › posts › archives › 2007-08 › 1188407794.Ph.r.html
Re: what percentage of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible light?
I am curious if there is a more precise known percentage of visible light in relation to the whole (the other six wavelengths of the spectrum)." Let's examine the available information. The electromagnetic spectrum is usually considered to extend from radio waves to gamma rays, with frequencies from about 10000 Hz to 1019 Hz, respectively, while visible light goes from red to violet with frequencies from about 4x1014 Hz to about 7.5x1014 Hz, respectively.
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PHYSICS TODAY
physicstoday.aip.org › news › dragonflies-have-extraordinary-color-vision
Dragonflies have extraordinary color vision - Physics Today
October 13, 2025 - Ryo Futahashi of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues have also found that the number of opsins, or light-sensitive proteins, can vary over the course of an individual dragonfly’s development, from larva to adult. The extra opsins may also allow dragonflies to see UV and polarized light.
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ScienceDaily
sciencedaily.com › releases › 2026 › 04 › 260409101059.htm
Dragonflies can see a color humans can’t and it could change medicine | ScienceDaily
July 25, 2026 - Dragonflies may see the world in a way that pushes beyond human limits—and surprisingly, they do it using the same molecular trick we evolved ourselves. Scientists discovered that these insects can detect extremely deep red light, even edging into near-infrared, thanks to a specialized visual protein strikingly similar to the one in human eyes.