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They can't "really see"... they have eyespots with just a handful of light-sensitive cells and no lenses, so it's just gradients of light and dark. But they ha
by jbotz 5y ago
They can't "really see"... they have eyespots with just a handful of light-sensitive cells and no lenses, so it's just gradients of light and dark. But they have other senses and I think the word "see" was metaphorical here, meaning they sensed the presence of an attractive stimulus. In some ways the real meaning of "see" doesn't depend on optics, you see?
- throwamon 5y agoAccording to a video from another comment, each eyespot is a single cell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kux1j1ccsgg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kux1j1ccsgg
- scotty79 5y agoI don't know. They seem to be able to squeeze out a lot of funtionality out of very limited numbers of cells. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point it was discovered that their light sensitive cells slosh around the cytoplasm inside the roughly spherical cell wall turning it into ad-hoc lenses even if for a brief moment. It still might be enough to get light intensity in a specific direction.