"It's saying something about the importance of chance in evolution, I think," said Partridge. Partridge also speculates that it may take less tissue to make a mirror-based eye than a lens-based eye. In the deep ocean, where food is scarce, that difference may provide a significant advantage. Some invertebrates, like scallops and shrimp, use mirrored eyes to make images, but the four-eyed spookfish is the first vertebrate found to do so. "It's a really nice finding. It's always nice to find examples of animals that have sort of mastered physics through evolution," said Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland, Australia, who was not involved in the study. Related Links: |
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