The eye of the Colossal Squid is the largest of any animal, at upto 11 inches in diameter, while its pupils measure upto 3.5 inches across. Why do they need such big eyes? The deep ocean is so dark that drawing in even a bit ocean is so dark that drawing in even a bit more light helps them see larger shadow by shifts in the depths like those produced by an enormous predator. A study showed that giant squids could detect a moving sperm whale from 394 feet with these eyes.
With huge eyes and built-in headlights, the squid is well equipped for life in the dark depths of the Southern Ocean.
The colossal squid’s eyes are placed so they face forward, giving the squid binocular or stereoscopic, and vision. The giant squid, in contrast, has eyes placed on each side of the head. It can see forwards and behind to detect predators, but does not have the binocular vision needed to judge distances.
The eyes of cephalopods (squid and octopus), like those of the colossal squid are very like vertebrate ‘camera eyes’. They contain a single lens that focuses images onto a retina lining the concave rear surface of the eye.
The team examining the colossal squid removed the lens from one eye. This lens is now on display in the exhibition on the interactive table. The other eye of the colossal squid was damaged.
As in all cephalopods, the lens is in two pieces — two parts of a single lens. The lens is spherical and 80-90 mm diameter, about the same size as an orange.
Picture Credit : Google