The Giant Squid and Colossal Squid have the largest eyes in the world. At around 10 inches in diameter, each eye is as big as a human head! With their great light-gathering capacity, squid eyes are able to detect even a faint glow far away in the dark, deep-sea environment. When a predator like the sperm whale is on the move, it disturbs tiny bioluminescent life-forms, creating a faintly glowing trail in the whale’s wake – giving the squid a warming sign.
The eyes of cephalopods (squid and octopus), like those of the colossal squid are very like vertebrate ‘camera eyes’. They contain a single lens that focuses images onto a retina lining the concave rear surface of the eye.
The team examining the colossal squid removed the lens from one eye. This lens is now on display in the exhibition on the interactive table. The other eye of the colossal squid was damaged.
As in all cephalopods, the lens is in two pieces — two parts of a single lens. The lens is spherical and 80-90 mm diameter, about the same size as an orange.
Picture Credit : Google
