West Indian Fuzzy Chitons Have Hundreds of Image-Focused Light-Detectors

Summary: Hundreds of image-focused light-detectors make West Indian fuzzy chitons objects of biological, engineering, military and scientific design interest.

West Indian fuzzy chitons on exposed aragonitic limestone rock surface in the intertidal zone, San Salvador Island, Bahamas: James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hundreds of image-focused light-detectors are making West Indian fuzzy chitons as savvy in vision as in defense, according to a study published Nov. 20, 2015, by the online, peer-reviewed journal Science.

The eight co-researchers and co-writers base their findings upon an understanding of crystallography (crystalline structures) and the use of computer modeling, high-resolution microscopy and X-ray techniques. They consider vision the result of certain orientations, shapes and sizes of crystalline grains allowing the West Indian fuzzy chiton to detect light and focus images. The oval-bodied, rock-hugging West Indian fuzzy chiton draws upon the chalklike mineral aragonite for eight-layered, opaque, tunic-like armor and transparent eyes with corneas, lenses and photoreceptors.

Aligned, large crystals enable chitons to see.

The co-researchers at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of South Carolina find that each lens measures less than one-tenth of a millimeter across.

Computer modeling at Argonne National Laboratory gives each bump-like, dark-pigmented, shiny-centered lens a fuzzy-focused image of an 8-inch (20.32-centimeter) fish from 6.56 feet (2 meters) away.

Matthew J. Conners, MIT graduate and study co-author, has direct involvement in laboratory measurements and models of the lenses, which are self-regenerating when aged or damaged. He indicates: “A lot of people thought the eyes were so small, there was no way this small lens would be capable of forming an image.”

Discoveries regarding lens numbers and placements join surprises respecting their focus and size.

Intertidal life cycles and natural histories keep the Cape Cod potato chip-sized, trilobite-like rock lookalike eluding air-borne and sea-borne predators and functioning above-water and below.

Hundreds of eyes embedded in flexible, overlapping armor and protected by non-sensory solid protrusions link the central nervous system’s predator-detector and the outer, turtle-like shell’s self-defenses.

Peter Fratzl, Professor of Biomaterials at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, mentions the multi-tasking multi-functionality of armor for defense and detection. He notes that “It is really astounding to see that minerals can be used at the same time to focus light and to provide mechanical protection.”

The chiton’s multi-functional exoskeleton offers adaptation possibilities for biological, engineering and scientific designs.

Funding by the Army Research Office, Department of Defense, Department of Energy and National Science Foundation prompt the study’s applicability to stronger combat vehicle windshield designs.

Ling Li, co-author and Harvard University post-doctoral fellow, questions military-only applications: “Can we design the kind of structural material with additional capabilities for monitoring the environment?”

Self-defensive, self-monitoring devices conceivably result from what Sonke Johnson, Duke University graduate advisor to study co-author David I. Speiser, calls “building all these beautiful crystal lenses.”

Design researches in engineering and materials sciences stand strong chances of adapting chiton lenses to embedded hazard-detecting sensors in protective gear and wear and in weight-bearing walls.

It turns out that streamlined central nervous systems produce super-savvy self-defenses and sight!

Oval-bodied, rock-hugging West Indian fuzzy chitons (Acanthopleura granulata) have hundreds of eyes embedded in flexible, overlapping armor: Science Magazine @sciencemagazine via Twitter Nov. 23, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Acanthopleura granulata: James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acanthopleura_granulata_(West_Indian_fuzzy_chitons)_(San_Salvador_Island,_Bahamas)_1_(16131898481).jpg

Oval-bodied, rock-hugging West Indian fuzzy chitons (Acanthopleura granulata) have hundreds of eyes embedded in flexible, overlapping armor: Science Magazine @sciencemagazine via Twitter Nov. 23, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/sciencemagazine/status/668821655976812544

For further information:

Chandler, David L. 19 November 2015. “Armor Plating with Built-in Transparent Ceramic Eyes.” MIT News > On Campus and Around the World.
Available @ http://news.mit.edu/2015/sea-creature-armor-plating-transparent-ceramic-eyes-1119

Fang, Janet. 20 November 2015. “These Mollusks Have Hundreds of Eyes in Their Armor.” Live Science > Plants and Animals.
Available @ http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/these-mollusks-have-hundreds-eyes-their-armor

Griffin, Catherine. 20 November 2015. “Weird Animal has a Suit of Armor with Hundreds of Eyes Built In.” Science World Report > Nature & Environment.
Available @ http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/33437/20151120/weird-animal-suit-armor-hundreds-eyes-built.htm

Kratochwill, Lindsey. 20 November 2015. “Sea Mollusk Sees with Hundreds of Armored Eyes.” Popular Science > Animals.
Available @ http://www.popsci.com/sea-mollusk-sees-with-hundreds-armored-eyes

Li, Ling; Connors, Matthew J.; Kolle, Mathias; England, Grant T.; Speiser, Daniel I; Xiao, Xianghui; Aizenberg, Joanna; Ortiz, Christine. 20 November 2015. “Multifunctionality of Chiton Biomineralized Armor with an Integrated Visual System.” Science 350 (6263): 952-956. DOI: 10.1126/science/aad1246
Available @ http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6263/952

Pappas, Stephanie. 20 November 2015. “Weird Sea Mollusk Has Hundreds of Eyes Made of Armor.” Discovery > Animals.
Available @ http://news.discovery.com/animals/weird-sea-mollusk-has-hundreds-of-eyes-made-of-armor-151120.htm

Pennisi, Elizabeth. 19 November 2015. "Video: Sea creature makes a thousand eyes from its shell." Science Magazine > ScienceShots.
Available @ http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2015/11/video-sea-creature-makes-thousand-eyes-its-shell?

Science Magazine. 19 November 2015. "Sea creature makes a thousand eyes from its shell." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNDCdIQlY8M

Science Magazine @sciencemagazine. 23 November 2015. "Mollusk makes hundreds of eyes from shell mineral." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/sciencemagazine/status/668821655976812544

“Some Mollusks Equip Their Armor with Eyes.” EurekAlert! > Public Release > 19 November 2015.
Available @ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/aaft-sme111615.php

Yong, Ed. 20 November 2015. “This Animal Has a Suit of Armor with Hundreds of Built-in Eyes.” The Atlantic.
Available @ http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/this-animal-has-armor-with-hundreds-of-eyes-and-lenses-made-of-rock/416523/