Scientists are amazed at the discovery of a bristle worm with such sharp-seeing eyes that they can measure up to those of mammals and octopuses. The researchers suspect that these marine worms may have a secretive language, which uses UV light only seen by their own species.
The advanced vision of such a primitive creature helps to finally settle an epic debate about the evolution of eyes.
"Together, we set out to unravel the mystery of why a nearly invisible, transparent worm that feeds in the dead of night has evolved to acquire enormous eyes. As such, the first aim was to answer whether large eyes endow the worm with good vision," says Michael Bok who together with Anders Garm, authors a new research article that does just that.
Precisely what the worms gain remains unclear, particularly because they are nocturnal animals that tuck away during the day, when eyes usually work best. "It may also be that they are on the lookout look for UV bioluminescent prey. But regardless, it makes things truly exciting as UV bioluminescence has yet to be witnessed in any other animal. So, we hope to be able to present this as the first example," says the researcher.
One of these debates has been about whether eyes have only evolved once -- and into every form that we know today, or whether they have arisen several times, independently of one another, in evolutionary history. Research in recent years has provided a number of pieces of evidence to support the latter, and the eyes of the Vanadis worm are another powerful piece of evidence in that direction.
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