eyevolution

January 8, 2009 12:09 PM

Although the evolution of the eye is often pointed to by evolution's skeptics as evidence of design, biologists have been quick to point out evidence to the contrary. Today, Julian Partridge of Bristol University's Ecology of Vision Research Unit has brought to light evidence of a Pacific fish that has evolved biological mirrors for navigating murky water.
posted by Pants! (14 comments total)

God I hate science "journalism". JUST TELL ME HOW IT WORKS OR EVEN WHAT IT IS DOING.

You get the idea the writer doesn't even know. He just knows there some mirrors and some eyes and they point in different directions. Must be helpful to catch food or something, right? Throw in a bunch of ocean puns and hand it in!
posted by DU at 12:19 PM on January 8, 2009

Naturally, a human being produces actual information.
posted by DU at 12:22 PM on January 8, 2009 [5 favorites]

Wow, Jesus invented mirrors too?
posted by designbot at 12:22 PM on January 8, 2009

This reflects well on God.
posted by Rumple at 12:41 PM on January 8, 2009 [2 favorites]

That optics setup must make the fish incredibly susceptible to vampires - it'd never see 'em coming. Of course, since it's already a spook, maybe the point is moot.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:44 PM on January 8, 2009

Seriously, this is very cool. But mirror eyes have been known for some time in organisms such as scallops and ostracods (pdf). I'd like to know more how these new vertebrate examples differ from the invertebrate ones.
posted by Rumple at 12:53 PM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, the eye design book is an excellent resource for (unsurprisingly) eye design in general
posted by Rumple at 1:02 PM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]

That 4 holes, 2 retina thing is pretty cool too.
posted by garlic at 1:15 PM on January 8, 2009

I thought dogs had mirrored eyes. Can't find a ref off-hand, but I think I read about it in Stephen Budiansky's The Truth About Dogs.
posted by grobstein at 1:19 PM on January 8, 2009

(Ah.)
posted by grobstein at 1:20 PM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]

I fucking love evolution.
posted by Dr. Wu at 1:37 PM on January 8, 2009

I fucking love evolution.
of course, evolution is also why you love fucking.
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:00 PM on January 8, 2009 [3 favorites]

This is great. Thanks for posting.
posted by tickingclock at 3:05 PM on January 8, 2009

I'd like to know more how these new vertebrate examples differ from the invertebrate ones.


According to the ScienceBlogger linked to, what makes it special is that this is the only vertebrate example. I have no idea if that's true or not.
posted by R_Nebblesworth at 3:33 PM on January 8, 2009