If you were to ask a group of random people what superpower they would opt for if given the choice, chances are fairly good that many people are going to opt for highly advanced vision. With the ability to see more clearly than everyone else around you, just think of all the mishaps you could avoid and advantages you’d have! Although advanced vision still requires some help from mechanics for us humans, many species in the sea are already dimensions ahead of us with their everyday, born-with-it peepers. Here are just five of the most advanced marine animal eyes.
Octopus
The octopus has some of the most advanced marine animal eyes. Its two eyes have more than double the amount of optic nerves as human eyes. The lens is fixed and muscular contractions move the lens closer to or farther from the retina in order to focus on objects. Scientists are still studying the ways in which an octopus can visually interpret an image’s size, shape, texture and color, then translate that data in order to make sophisticated camouflages with their skin.
Colossal Squid
In February of 2007, a fishing crew off the coast of New Zealand managed to capture a colossal squid. This cephalopod has the largest eyes in the world, measured at eleven inches in diameter. The lens of the colossal squid is the size of an orange. That means this marine animal’s eye can capture a great deal of light to illuminate the dark depths of the ocean.
Mantis Shrimp
The mantis shrimp has some of the most advanced marine animal eyes. This small crustacean can move each eye independently. Mantis shrimp can perceive depth with just one eye. Their eyes also have twelve different color receptors, whereas human eyes only have three. The mantis shrimp, like certain flies and insects, has a complex eye shape with thousands of individual cells working in harmony. They can see polarized light and ultraviolet light with ease.
Cuatro Ojos
The cuatro ojos, or four-eyed fish of Brazil has an amazing visual system. It doesn’t actually have four eyes, but two, each one split in half by a tissue membrane. This fresh water fish uses two eyes to see underwater and two eyes to see above the surface. This means the cuatro ojos utilizes two different optical axes in the same eye simultaneously. They give new meaning to the term “double vision.”
Barrelyes
Brownsnout spookfish, also called barreleyes, live at depths of five hundred to two thousand meters below the surface. They have some of the most advanced marine animal eyes. Like the cuatro ojos, these fish are said to have four eyes. That’s because the brownsnout spookfish eyes are split in half. This animal can see up and down at the same time. They process light from above using a lens, while processing light from below by way of a complex system of mirrored plates.
