Abstract The UV light absorbing species of proteorhodopsin with deprotonated Schiff base retinal was investigated using steady-state fluorescence and femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. Compared to the all-trans retinal with protonated Schiff base, the deprotonated chromophore absorbs at 365 nm and exhibits a blue-shifted fluorescence spectrum. The unusually long-lived excited state decays bi-exponentially with time constants of 8 ps and 130 ps to form a deprotonated 13-cis retinal as the primary photo-product.