circular polarization

The Eye of the Mantis Shrimp

The most advanced eye on Earth gives its owner a fighting chance

The mantis shrimp (which oddly is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, but a crustacean that resembles both) has arguably the most complicated visual system of any animal on Earth. Its compound eyes sit on independently moving stalks and can see colors ranging from ultra-violet to infra-red. Each eye is divided into three regions for tracking motion, forms, depth, and color. All of this, it is theorized, is done without the aid of its tiny brain. (Its also got claws that can smash through glass, but that well save for another article). Now add to this an entirely new kind of vision previously unknown: the mantis shrimp can see circular polarized light.

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