Here's Looking at You!
The eyes of some groups of stomatopods are probably the most complex in the animal kingdom.
Stomatopod eyes are unusual for several reasons:
- they have stereo vision with just one eye;
- each eye is up on a stalk, with a wide range of motion;
- stomatopods have up to 16 visual pigments (in contrast, we humans have three—red, blue, and yellow);
- stomatopods can also see ultra-violet and infra-red light, and some can even see polarized light.
Find out more about two very interesting features of stomatopod vision: the arrangement of their eyes, and the ability to see polarized light.
A close-up view of the thousands of visual elements in stomatopod eyes.
The compound eyes of a stomatopod are elevated on movable stalks.