Sea urchins 'look' with thorny feathers
A new study confirms that the sea urchin's bristling body acts as a large eye covered with thorns.
A close-up of a sea urchin.
Sea urchins are like relatives close to them, starfish, both without eyes. Instead, this spherical hair-like invertebrate uses their thorns to detect light and compare the intensity of light rays to locate.
Although there is no eye, the sea urchin's ability to visualize is similar to that of some species of invertebrate marine life such as the British snail or horseshoe crab.
More Science Stories
- Sea otters 'protect the earth'
- The truth behind a strange object like a giant baseball appeared on the coast
- Discover the stunned red urchin, living the longest on Earth
- Can produce plastic from chicken feathers
- Prehistoric tail feathers stuck 100 million years in amber
- Why are birds not hairy when they are old?
- Learn how sea urchins catch carbon dioxide
- A strange mouse that is always akin to predators
- Wingless kiwifruit
- Detection of feathers from the time of dinosaurs covered in amber
- Strange plants don't fear the desert
- The strange eye under the sea