Sea urchins see with their body - minus eyes
July 1st, 2011 - 1:04 pm ICT by IANSLondon, July 1 (IANS) Sea urchins are one of the rarest of creatures who can see with their whole body, without any eyes.
Previous studies have shown that they have a large number of genes linked to the development of the retina — the light-sensitive tissue in the human eye.
This means that sea urchins have several genes that are coded for a widely occurring eye protein, opsin, reports the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It was this discovery that underpinned our research,” says Sam Dupont, marine ecologist and study co-author from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
“We wanted to see where the opsin was located in sea urchins so that we could find the sensory light structures, or photoreceptors. We quite simply wanted to know where the sea urchin sees from,” adds Dupoint, according to a Gothenburg statement.
Researchers showed that the photoreceptors seem to be located on the tip and base of the tube feet that are found all over the sea urchin’s body and are used by it to move.
“We argue that the entire adult sea urchin can act as a huge compound eye, and that the shadow that is cast by the animal’s opaque skeleton over the light-sensitive cells can give it directional vision,” says Dupont.
- Night blindness cured in mice with special cells - Apr 19, 2012
- Electronic implants to give sight back to blind - Nov 03, 2010
- Thyroid hormone is crucial in controlling eye's visual pigments - Mar 30, 2011
- New hope for restoring vision in the blind - Sep 22, 2010
- Bionic eye to help the blind 'see' - Nov 27, 2010
- Eye rich source of flexible adult stem cells - Jan 09, 2012
- Why human eye is better than both digital and film cameras - May 04, 2011
- Light blue wetsuit may save divers from colour-blind sharks - Jan 20, 2011
- Astonishing bionic enables blind to see - Nov 22, 2011
- Winter blues? Go for light therapy! - Oct 31, 2011
- Amazing retina explains birds' unparalleled vision - Jun 24, 2011
- How visuals signals travel from eye to the brain - Oct 07, 2010
- What helps plants go green? - Jun 30, 2010
- Shining bright light into ear banishes winter blues - Nov 10, 2011
- Eye operation helps blind Briton to see - May 04, 2012
Tags: co author, compound eye, dupont, genes, gothenburg sweden, human eye, journal proceedings, light sensitive cells, light structures, marine ecologist, national academy of sciences, opsin, proceedings of the national academy, proceedings of the national academy of sciences, retina, sea urchin, sea urchins, skeleton, tube feet, university of gothenburg