COSEE Ocean Systems: News
Octopuses, and Maybe Squid, Can Sense Light With Their Skin
Description: Researchers recently discovered that the common cuttlefish has light-sensitive proteins called opsins all over its skin. Opsins are the engines of sight. Even though animal eyes come in a wondrous variety of shapes and structures, all of them use opsins of one kind or another. The discovery of these proteins in cuttlefish skin suggested that these creatures might be able to sense light over their entire surface, giving them a kind of distributed "sight". [Source: National Geographic]
URL: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/20/octopuses-and-maybe-squid-can-sense-light-with-their-skin/
Availability: Full Text
Source: National Geographic
Publish Date: 5/20/2015
Reading Level: Basic
Page Length:  

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