Spookfish Uses Mirrors For Eyes 81
Kligat writes "The brownsnout spookfish in the Pacific is the first known vertebrate to use mirrors to focus light into its eyes. Despite being a species known for 120 years, this was not known until a live specimen was caught between New Zealand and Samoa last year. The fish lives over 1,000 meters below the ocean's surface, so the light focused by the mirrors' perfectly curved surfaces provides a major advantage over other fish."
Re:That's Spooky! (Score:1, Informative)
Better link showing how the eye is arranged. (Score:5, Informative)
I was having trouble visualizing how this works but then I found this link with a diagram of the eye's anatomy [scienceblogs.com]
Re:More importantly (Score:3, Informative)
Sexual repdroduction is easily reduceable (Score:3, Informative)
Sexuality is not irreducible at all. You have this small couple-cell organism that reproduces asexually by division and cloning its minute DNA. This goes on for millenia, so that in any given hospitable location these organisms are incredibly densely packed, as in, in constant contact.
Then sometime, there is a mutation during the cloning process of two of the microbes whereby instead of an exact copy of each being made, potions of their DNA is instead swapped, because they are trying to reproduce adjacently in so close quarters. Boom, you have the first sexual reproduction. Extrapolate over billions of microbes over thousands of years, with this sexual reproduction happening all over the place. Evolution takes hold, microbes with better DNA out-compete the others, and you are off to the races.