5 ms·
Hogfish ‘See’ with Their Skin, Even When They’re Dead
- dclowd9901 3y agohttps://archive.li/8Sth6 https://archive.li/8Sth6
- marcandre 3y agoVery interesting. I don't understand why it mentions this to be a brand new discovery, since the presence of opsins in the skin of animals for mimetism has been known for some time, e.g. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/octopuses-and-maybe-squid-can-sense-light-with-their-skin https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/octopuses... (2015)
- djmips 3y agoIt seems that the article you reference is more speculating but the article posted is much further along with some results.
- dekhn 3y agoI believe there is some more recent work on this, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448664/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448664/ """LACE (light-activated chromophore expansion) in isolated preparations suggests that octopus skin is intrinsically light sensitive and that this dispersed light sense might contribute to their unique and novel patterning abilities. Finally, our data suggest that a common molecular mechanism for light detection in eyes may have been co-opted for light sensing in octopus skin and then used for LACE.""" another, more recent paper, which is more of a review: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(22)00659-5.pdf https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(22)00659...
- wolverine876 3y agoThe discovery in the OP is of dermal photoreception in a vertabrate.
- rob74 3y ago...plus it covers a whole different type of animal (cephalopod vs. fish)
- bolangi 3y agoArticle says it's the first case of opsins found in the skin of a vertebrate.
- mywacaday 3y agoWhy have land animals never evolved adaptive camouflage?
- trimethylpurine 3y agoJust taking a guess, but maybe translucent skin doesn't do as well for survival in the sun.
- taskforcegemini 3y agoaren't fish with that feature also technically "under the sun" (dependent on visibility gained by the sun)?
- trimethylpurine 3y agoCheck out the Beer-Lambert law. Intensity declines exponentially with depth.
- DistractionRect 3y agoI would think Chameleons count has having active camouflage, no?
- mywacaday 3y agoGood point, forgot about them. How about anything warm blooded?
- xwdv 3y agoWhat is there to really see when you’re dead? If you were dead, would you want to see anything?
- stronglikedan 3y agoMy guess is that it's like the eyes surviving to detect light after the parts of the brain that can interpret the light hitting the rods and cones has died.
- tempodox 3y agoIt depends, do they have Netflix in the afterlife?
- tough 3y agoI really hope not, that sounds like a really bad limbo to be stuck into
- seanhunter 3y agoForced for all eternity watching just vids of YouTube influencers telling you their daily routine and making tier lists of stuff.
- xwdv 3y agoWorse, scrolling endlessly forever looking for something to watch.
- gumby 3y agoNails and hair continue to grow after the heart and brain stop, though obviously not perpetually.
- mrweiner 3y agoThat’s a misconception - hair and nails don’t continue growing after death. Retraction of the skin makes it appear as though they do. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130526-do-your-nails-grow-after-death https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130526-do-your-nails-gr...
- telecuda 3y agoWhile I usually withhold personal comments here, I love this article because the Hogfish is the only main species here in Florida that for whatever reason I can't catch (while all my mates have). They even bought me a Hogfish cutting board to remind me each day of my "white whale." I'm so glad to read of their camouflage abilities to use that as an excuse!
- stronglikedan 3y agoHopefully they've at least shared some with you, because it's delicious.
- telecuda 3y agoThey've done that at least!