Definition
The primary organ by which animals receive light information and the only structure by which image-forming vision is possible.
Introduction
The glint of a predator’s gaze, plumage of a potential mate, or the ominous dark cloud announcing the approach of a violent storm all represent visual signals imperative to an organism’s survival, and all necessitate the use of vision. Across the animal kingdom, the use of eyes to receive light information has undoubtedly contributed to the massive radiation and diversification, seen in fossilized and extant members of the animal kingdom.
Sight was one of the major sensory innovations to arise during the “Cambrian Explosion” and provided animals with the means to interpret and react to light information, a driving force in the growing divergence of life strategy and corresponding body plan (Plotnick et al. 2010; Parker 1998; Conway-Morris 2003). The evolution of novel eyes coincides with the first observed...
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References
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Dong, E.M., Allison, W.T. (2017). Eye, The. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2754-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2754-1
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