Mad as a Marine Biologist

Showing 8 posts tagged eyes

thebeautyofblue: the eyes of peacock flounder (by Zé Eduardo…) The eyes of this fish are raised up on short stumps like radar dishes, and can move in any direction independently on each other. One eye can look forward while the other looks backward at the same time. The baby flounders have one eye on each side of their bodies like ordinary fish, and swim like other fishes do, but later on, as they are becoming adult, the right eye moves to the left side, and flounders start to swim sideways, which gives them the ability to settle down flat on the bottom.

thebeautyofblue:

the eyes of peacock flounder (by Zé Eduardo…)

The eyes of this fish are raised up on short stumps like radar dishes, and can move in any direction independently on each other. One eye can look forward while the other looks backward at the same time. The baby flounders have one eye on each side of their bodies like ordinary fish, and swim like other fishes do, but later on, as they are becoming adult, the right eye moves to the left side, and flounders start to swim sideways, which gives them the ability to settle down flat on the bottom.

Brainless box jellyfish know which way is up Box jellyfish may lack a brain, but they still make use of two dozen eyes. Now it seems that some of these eyes serve a surprising purpose: helping the jellyfish to navigate using landmarks above the water.Box jellyfish, Tripedalia cystophora, typically live in tropical mangrove swamps, where their crustacean prey abound. We know that their impressive suite of eyes help the animals steer clear of objects as they swim – but Dan-Eric Nilsson, a biologist at Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues have just discovered that a heavy gypsum crystal embedded in the structures surrounding the eyes keeps some of them pointing directly upwards, no matter how the animal is oriented.** Click through for more ** Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.054

Brainless box jellyfish know which way is up

Box jellyfish may lack a brain, but they still make use of two dozen eyes. Now it seems that some of these eyes serve a surprising purpose: helping the jellyfish to navigate using landmarks above the water.

Box jellyfish, Tripedalia cystophora, typically live in tropical mangrove swamps, where their crustacean prey abound. We know that their impressive suite of eyes help the animals steer clear of objects as they swim – but Dan-Eric Nilsson, a biologist at Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues have just discovered that a heavy gypsum crystal embedded in the structures surrounding the eyes keeps some of them pointing directly upwards, no matter how the animal is oriented.

** Click through for more **

Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.054